Counterview

By Simi Mehta  Eminent labour economist and professor, Human Resources Management Area at XLRI -- Xavier School of Management, Dr KR Shyam Sundar’s new book titled ‘Essays on COVID-19, Labour Market Reforms and the World of Work in India’, released at a virtual event, has been dedicated the book to the premier international academic body (co-founded by former President Shri VV Giri), the Indian Society of Labour Economics.

By Rahul Singh Rana, Sandeep Pandey* The Farmers' protests are into their fourth month now. These protests started with people from Punjab and Haryana breaking barricades and heading towards the Indian capital. As expected, these protesting farmers were met with force at several places. Undeterred by the challenging circumstances, the farmers were able to reach at the borders of Delhi. 

Counterview Desk  In a comprehensive statement, running into about 3,500 words, India's premier human rights organisation, People's Union for Civil Liberties (PUCL), even as condemning the recent "unprecedented attack" on rights activists by the Andhra Pradesh government, with the Centre's National Investigation Agency (NIA) and stood in "solidarity", has said that the main aim of the "witch hunt" is to silence dissent.

Counterview Desk  In an open statement, a group of former civil servants of the all-India and Central services, who have worked for decades with the Central and State governments, have said that the Government of National Capital Territory of Delhi (Amndment) Act, 2021, is not only "bad in law", it also "deprives Delhi’s citizens of the right to govern themselves in matters such as health, education, water, power, electric supply and roads."

Counterview Desk  India's premier civil society network, National Alliance of People’s Movements (NAPM), even as seeking restoration of democracy in Myanmar and declaring "support" to the "civil disobedience movement" against the military (Tatmadaw), has demanded that the Government of India (GoI) should allow refuge to Myanmar’s citizens "fleeing persecutions and violence."

By Our Representative  The Popular Front of India, a civil rights network, has said that the Varanasi district court order directing the Archaeological Survey of India (ASI) to carry out a “physical survey” of the Gyanvapi mosque is a “clear case of abetting the Sangh Parivar assault on the Constitutional rights of religious minorities.”

By Aviral Anand*  A jawan from Tripura about to get married. Another, from a village in Bilaspur, looking forward to a new home. A recent father... The stories of martyred jawans are almost always the same, and the scenes of mourning too similar, set as they are overwhelmingly in rural or mofussil India. Has one ever heard of someone from, say, the preposterously-named residential complexes like "Maple Gardens Society" in the posh outskirts of the national capital, for example, ever falling victim to an ambush in Bastar?

Arshad Andrabi with photo of brother Jalil Andrabi, Srinagar, June 12, 2012 By Dr Ghulam Nabi Fai*  Accused of murdering human rights lawyer Jalil Andrabi, who was chairman of the Kashmir Commission of Jurists, exactly 25 years ago, it became a big news when a former Indian major, Avtar Singh, was found dead after he killed his wife and two children, and finally himself, in Selma, California. The event took place on June 9, 2012.

By Prem Verma* The Indian sedition law owes its origin to the British Sedition Act of 1661, an Act of Parliament of England which was passed as an Act for safety and Preservation of His Majesties Person and Government against treasonable and seditious practices and attempts. However sedition was abolished in Great Britain through the Coroners and Justice Act of 2009.