-The Hindu With labour law reforms set to change industrial relations, TRADE UNION responses must include social dialogue too Ten central TRADE UNIONs (CTUs) have called for a nation-wide strike on November 26, 2020 to condemn what they consider to be the anti-people, and anti-labour economic policies of the government. This follows strikes in the coal and defence sectors protesting privatisation and the corporatisation policies of the government. It is essential to...

-Counterview.net A new book, “Sustainable Development in India: A Comparison with the G-20”, authored by Dr Keshab Chandra Mandal, has regretted that though India’s GDP has doubled over the last one decade, its human development indicators are worse than not just developed countries of the Group of 20 countries but also developing countries who its members. The G-20 – consisting of Argentina, Australia, Brazil, Canada, China, France, Germany, India, Indonesia, Italy, Japan,...

-The Hindu The new labour laws are a brutal attack on workers’ ability to safeguard their rights Labour law ‘reform’ has been on the table since 1991 as every government’s favourite solution for economic growth. Yet, there was no consensus between governments, political parties, workers and their TRADE UNIONs, and employers, on what this meant. Unlike other political formations, the BJP has been in unqualified agreement with employers that the existing labour...

-The Hindu There is a strong case to attribute a more robust responsibility to platform companies and the State The Code on Social Security Bill, 2020, for the first time in Indian law, attempted to define ‘platform work’ outside of the traditional employment category. It says: “Platform work means a work arrangement outside of a traditional employer-employee relationship in which organisations or individuals use an online platform to access other organisations or...

-The Hindu In RTI reply, NCDC says WHO official sent an “alert mail” to Union Health Minister The World Health Organisation (WHO) informed India as early as January 11 that the reported dates of onset of novel coronavirus circulating in China’s Wuhan ranged between “12-29 December 2019,” according to information accessed through Right to Information (RTI). The RTI reply shows that the WHO also “advised against any travel or trade restrictions on China...