A temple dedicated to 'Goddess English' coming up in nondescript Banka village of Lakhimpur Kheri district is facing trouble with the builders of the structure alleging that the police has asked them to stop its construction. "Local police led by Uchauliya police station in-charge today asked our workers to stop construction work by citing a Supreme court ruling that no place of worship can be installed without prior permission of the...
More »SEARCH RESULT
For whom the bell tolls by Moushumi Basu
It is imperative that the committee constituted to look into charges of corruption in the Commonwealth Games should also include violations of labour laws within its purview. One of the more blatant and visible scams of the recently concluded Commonwealth Games relates to how the thousands of workers who worked on the games construction sites were denied minimum wages, safety equipment, housing and other benefits constitutionally due to them. In an interview...
More »109 workers died at DMRC sites by Ambika Pandit
In reply to an RTI query filed by the People's Union for Democratic Rights (PUDR) in August, the labour department of Delhi government has said that it does not have consolidated figures on the labour deaths reported during the Commonwealth Games preparations. The Delhi Metro Rail Corporation (DMRC) had separately filed an affidavit in the high court in September which said that 109 workers had died on its sites during...
More »The narcissism of the neurotic by P Sainath
The Commonwealth Games were no showcase, but a mirror of India 2010. If they presented anything, it was this — Indian crony, casino capitalism at its most vigorous. The Commonwealth Games over, we can now return to those of everyday Indian life. For all the protests, though, there was nothing in the corruption that marked the Games that does not permeate every town and city, all the time. Just that, in...
More »Why Indians should fear the UID by Praful Bidwai
The Aadhaar or UID project has grave implications for every Indian. It will enable the government to profile every citizen and track their movements and transactions. There is no guarantee that intimate personal information -- pre-existing illnesses, romantic relationships etc -- won't be shared with other agencies, warns Praful Bidwai. An elaborate charade has begun with the rolling out of the first Aadhaar unique identity numbers in a tribal district of Maharashtra by...
More »