Counterview

By Vikas Gupta   India loves the photograph of a certificate ceremony. A minister on a stage. A banner bearing the word “skill.” Young people holding folders that promise a future. It is a reassuring image because it tells us the problem has a manageable answer: train the young, make them job-ready, and work will follow.

By Rajiv Shah   I was a little surprised to see how some of those whom I respect for taking a firm stand on patriarchal issues reacted to the manner in which they responded to the recent incident in Paris, in which women employees of the Eiffel Tower were asked to remain "invisible" on September 5 when 100 BAPS sadhus visited one of the world's top tourist destinations.

By Sunil Kumar*  A contract worker, Ranjit Gautam, died at Delhi University's South Campus on September 7, 2026. His death was not natural. The information that has come to light after the incident raises serious questions about the alleged gross negligence of the Delhi University administration.

By Bhabani Shankar Nayak   The job posting sounds noble: “Seeking passionate self-starter. Unpaid. College credit available. Great for your résumé.” Every year, millions of young people—students, recent graduates, career-changers—sign up for positions just like it. They staff food banks, tutor children, clean riverbanks, and code for startups, all in the name of “giving back” or “gaining experience.” They are told they are volunteers. In truth, they have become entries in a hidden ledger of capitalism, where goodwill is logged as free labor and solidarity is booked as a business expense.

By A Representative   A scathing letter addressed to Gujarat's Labour Secretary has brought to light alarming discrepancies in the collection and disbursement of the Building and Other Construction Workers' Welfare Cess, with activists citing a recent Comptroller and Auditor General (CAG) report to demand urgent corrective measures for the benefit of the state's estimated 25 lakh unorganized construction workers.

By Bhabani Shankar Nayak*  The death of Professor Jason Arday has reignited public debate about racism in Britain and renewed calls for a robust anti‑racist movement capable of building a genuinely egalitarian society. Yet the path forward remains steep, not least because people of colour must themselves sustain the struggle for racial justice—and because too many institutions, including trade unions, continue to exhibit patterns of racial bias and entrenched white entitlement.

By A Representative   A 45-year-old man died after being taken into police custody in Halisahar in North 24 Parganas district, prompting the civil rights group Association for Protection of Democratic Rights (APDR) to allege custodial torture and demand an independent judicial investigation.

By Kantilal Parmar*  The repeated deaths of sanitation workers from toxic gas exposure in Gujarat are not isolated industrial accidents. They represent a continuing failure of governance, workplace safety, and respect for the fundamental human rights of some of the state's most vulnerable workers.

By  Bhabani Shankar Nayak*    Various forms of crisis, risk, and insecurity are intensifying, even as governing elites drum up patriotism, nationalism, and ethnic and religious unity to hide the failures of the ruling classes and their capitalist system, with all its powers. Labour is more productive than ever before, yet it continues to face archaic forms of marginalisation. 

By Bhabani Shankar Nayak*  Working people in Britain should be cautious about expecting a fundamental political transformation if power shifts from Sir Keir Starmer to Andy Burnham. Over the past two decades, British politics has been characterised less by ideological contestation than by continuity. Governments have changed, but the underlying political and economic assumptions have remained remarkably consistent.

By A Representative  The Silicosis Victims Association in Morbi has filed a formal complaint with the District Collector accusing Gujarat authorities, particularly the Director Industrial Safety and Health (DISH) office , of failing impoverished workers who have contracted silicosis after years of exposure to silica dust in Gujarat's ceramic manufacturing hub . The association alleges that even as factory owners continue to profit, workers are left to cope with a debilitating and incurable lung disease with little institutional support, despite protections available under the Factories Act and the Gujarat Workers' Welfare Rules .

By A Representative   Workers’ organisations, trade unions and grassroots activists have sharply criticised the proposed Village-Based Guaranteed Rural Employment and Asset Generation Mission (VBGRAMG), alleging that it dismantles the rights-based framework of the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (MGNREGA) and replaces it with a centralized, underfunded and technology-driven system that threatens rural livelihoods.

By A Representative  The International Labour Organization’s adoption of Convention No. 193 , the world’s first binding global standard for platform and gig workers , has drawn a sharply critical response from the Gig & Platform Service Workers Union (GIPSWU), which represents millions of app-based workers across India. In a statement, GIPSWU described the new framework as a “compromised text that still leaves too much power with platforms, too much discretion with governments, and too little that will immediately change the lives of ordinary workers.” 

By Rajiv Shah   In a detailed discussion on the Unmute podcast, leading labour scholars Professor Ernesto Noronha and lawyer-researcher Anusha Ravishankar have issued a stark assessment of India’s newly notified labour codes , arguing that the long-pending reforms are designed to attract capital at the expense of worker security, weaken collective bargaining , and exacerbate the vulnerabilities of the country’s vast informal workforce .

By A Representative   The Durbar Mahila Samanwaya Committee (DMSC), one of India's largest sex workers' collectives, has welcomed the Supreme Court's May 29, 2026 judgment in Prajwala vs Union of India, describing it as a significant step toward a rights-based and constitutionally grounded approach to addressing trafficking and sex work.

By A Representative   The advocacy group Jan Swasthya Abhiyan India (JSA India) has expressed deep concern over the recent deaths of 12 workers in separate industrial accidents in Visakhapatnam, Andhra Pradesh, and Surat, Gujarat, calling for urgent strengthening of occupational health and safety measures across the country.

By A Representative   A broad coalition of trade unions, worker representatives, labour rights activists and concerned citizens has submitted a memorandum to Union Home Minister Amit Shah, Union Labour and Employment Minister Mansukh Mandaviya, and Gujarat Chief Minister Bhupendra Patel, demanding a revision of minimum wages towards living wages, stricter enforcement of labour laws, and the withdrawal of criminal cases filed against protesting workers and trade union leaders.

By A Representative   The NREGA Sangharsh Morcha (NSM), a national platform of workers' organisations and activists associated with rural employment rights, has strongly opposed the introduction and proposed implementation of the VB-GRAMG Act, demanding an immediate halt to its rollout and a comprehensive consultation process involving workers and civil society groups.

By A Representative   A 15-year-old boy from Lower Siang district of Arunachal Pradesh has been rescued and reunited with his family following the intervention of child protection authorities and local administration, according to a statement issued by Legal Defence for Human Rights (LDHR).

By Rezgar Akrawi  Most countries of the Middle East and the Global South operating under authoritarian regimes share a single structural crisis, one whose substance is the acute and chronic fragmentation and weakness that afflicts mass organisations, trade unions, feminist movements and student bodies, extending further to undermine coordination among the forces of the left themselves. This is not a purely Iraqi predicament; it is a recurring phenomenon in comparable contexts, one that finds in the Iraqi experience its most transparent expression.