-The Hindu I request you to consider advising the State Building and Other Construction Workers Welfare Boards to roll out emergency welfare measures, particularly wage support, to construction workers who are in distress, she says Congress president Sonia Gandhi has asked Prime Minister Narendra Modi to roll out emergency welfare measures for construction industry workers because of the ongoing COVID-19 lockdown, the party said on Tuesday. In her letter, dated March 23, Ms....

-The Hindu Support becomes critical as thousands of migrant workers return to villages The Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (MGNREGA) scheme has been officially shut down in at least seven States, while it is effectively closed in many more, as COVID-19 lockdowns come into effect across the country. Workers’ collectives are demanding relief in the form of wages during the shutdown, payment of pending dues, and extension of the scheme in...

-Hindustan Times Today’s choices will determine the future of the Indian State’s relationship with citizens The only certainty in the coronavirus-induced global chaos is that the idea of the nation-state as the all-powerful, enforcer of social order is back. After decades of globalisation, neo-liberalisation and privatisation, in this moment of crisis, people across the globe are looking to their national governments and willingly giving up their civil liberties in favour of absolute...

-The Hindu ‘PM failed to outline concrete steps on COVID-19’ The Left parties slammed Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s address to the nation on the COVID-19 saying that the PM failed to outline any concrete measures to contain it and its economic fallout. The CPI(M) has made 11 demands, including cash transfer of ₹5,000 to Jan Dhan accounts and all BPL (Below Poverty Line) beneficiaries to temporarily tide over the crisis. The party also...

-The Hindu SC says plea filed by child rights activists Enakshi Ganguly and Shanta Sinha raise “substantial issues and alleged detention of children”. The Supreme Court on Friday assigned the Jammu and Kashmir High Court’s Juvenile Justice Committee to inquire into allegations of illegal detention of children — some as young as 10 — by security forces in Jammu and Kashmir, which is undergoing a period of lockdown following the reading down...