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Showing posts from May, 2020

Covid-19: Just 5% Gujarat masons agree to take all precautions at work, home

A new study, carried out by an organization that has been working for the advancement of the building artisan, mainly masons, for nearly two decades, has found that only 5% respondents are aware of taking the three necessary precautions amidst Covid-19 crisis while on work on site and at home -- use masks, physical distancing, and washing hands.

CityMakers 'locked out': India's 80% casual, 60% salaried workers out of job, says survey

Findings of a telephonic-survey by interviewing 3,121 households across 50 plus cities of the country from May 7 to May 17, 2020 by scholars of the Impact and Policy Research Institute (IMPRI), Delhi, have suggested that eight out of 10 casual daily wage labourers and six out of 10 salaried workers reported unemployed or loss employment during lockdown due to closure of business/construction activities and inability to visit their workplaces.

Lockdown checkup: PDS improves, but MGNREGA work 'missing' in many villages

A Lockdown Checkup survey, conducted by members of the Right to Food Campaign, Jharkhand,  has found that while the public distribution system (PDS) has improved in the state, work under the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (MGNREGA) is still missing in many villages.

Disaffection towards government constitutes offence of sedition: Gujarat govt tells HC

Opposing the plea to quash sedition charges against the Gujarati online news portal “Face of Nation” editor Dhaval Patel, who was subsequently  arrested  in May second week, the Gujarat government has told the High Court that this is not possible since investigation is still going on, and such a step would be “premature”. 

IIM-A rejects legal notice: Public authorities 'didn't arrange' trains for migrant workers

In a rejoinder to the legal notice served on the Indian Institute of Management-Ahmedabad (IIM-A) director following  unrest  outside the IIM-A campus, the IIM-A in a statement has asserted that the unrest of the workers from the construction site was not about wages and living conditions “but about the delay in obtaining travel permits and the arranging of transportation by the public authorities to take them back to their home states.”

India's 21 of 29 RTI watchdogs didn't take up 'life and liberty' issues amidst lockdown

A report on the status of the Central Information Commission (CIC) and State Information Commissions (SICs) across India during the Covid-19 crisis, released by two civil rights organizations, Satark Nagrik Sangathan and Centre for Equity Studies, has said that of the 29 commissions set up under the Right to Information (RTI) Act , 21 have not held any hearings during during the lockdown period, currently in its fourth phase.

'Violation' of migrant workers' human rights: Legal notice to IIM-A director, govt babus

  By Our Representative Taking strong exception to the police  action  against protesting migrant workers off the Indian Institute of Management-Ahmedabad (IIM-A) on May 18, senior Gujarat High Court advocate Anandvardhan Yagnik, in a legal notice to the IIM-A director "on their behalf" has said that the workers had only been seeking to to go back to their home states, Jharkhand and West Bengal, for the last more than 20 days because they were not paid their “earned wages because of the lockdown.”

GPCB admits industry polluted Sabarmati as lockdown 'improves' river water quality

Sabarmati downstream of Ahmedabad before lockdown A new Gujarat government report, “Impact of Lockdown due to Covid-19 Pandemic on Surface Water Quality”, published by the Gujarat Pollution Control Board (GPCB) has claimed that the health of several of Gujarat rivers, many of which fall into the list of the most-polluted rivers of India, has improved, thanks to “the enforcement of the national lockdown.”

Lockdown impact: 85% of Ahmedabad's low income households 'not earning' regularly

A fresh survey of Ahmedabad’s low income households under the directions of Indian Institute of Management-Ahmedabad (IIM-A) faculty Prof Ankur Sarin has revealed that, during the current lockdown, around 85% households reported not earning regular incomes anymore as against 76% households during an earlier survey. The survey was carried out between April 23 and May 2, while the previous round took place between March 24 and April 22.

Half rural households didn't receive two months' ration despite govt direction: Survey

A fresh round of telephonic survey carried out by a group of activists suggests that while 82% of respondents have ration card, and of these 96% said they do receive grain from the fair price shops, nearly half of them (54%) said they have not received two months’ ration in April despite clear government directions.

Labour codes, move not to pay workers during natural calamities 'deleterious'

The National Alliance of People’s Movement (NAPM), a civil rights network, has strongly protested against the alleged Government of India move to “dilute” decades of working class struggles “which led to 44 legislations regarding minimum wages, fixed hours of work, right to unionization, workers benefits, social security of unorganized sector workers etc.”

Lockdown: 310 deaths due to hunger, financial distress, exhaustion, vigilantism

A civil society tracker, based on available information in newspapers, online news portals and social media, has said that there have been in all 310 deaths till April 30 unnatural non-covid deaths, mainly linked to the lockdown imposed by Prime Minister Narendra Modi on March 24. Pointing out these reasons for these deaths include suicide, lathicharge and hunger amidst migration, the tracker has called the lockdown a major “humanitarian crisis.”