GN Bureau | May 2, 2015
Here are five special stories you must read this weekend
International Labour Day
Shramev Jayate (Labour Prevails), the slogan coined by prime minister Narendra Modi, is not as seductive as Karl Marx’s exhortation, “Workers of the world unite”. But the essence of both emphasises the ultimate triumph of the proletariat as sine qua non for the evolution of a new political order. Is labour recognised as an input as critical as capital and treated on a par?
READ: Marxism Modified
The labour has been pushed to the margins after liberalisation. This crisis should be an opportunity for trade unions to revive themselves
READ: Just another day in the life of the worker
Conversation with author Tarek Fatah
After ‘Chasing a Mirage’, and ‘The Jew Is Not My Enemy’, Fatah has come out with his third book, ‘The Tragic Illusion of an Islamic State’ (Kautilya Books, New Delhi), and ahead of its launch he interacted with the editorial team of Governance Now on Thursday
READ: The trouble with Islamic State
Punjab drug problem
Punjab possibly has everything a state can ask for, maybe too much. For a majority of its youth is getting wasted from rampant drug abuse. They are the future of Punjab but their present is mired in smack and heroin. Not only is the youth fast turning irrelevant in terms of Punjab’s progress, signs of a greater worry reflect in the state’s weakened backbone – the gradual demise of countless youngsters from drug overdose. This grim reality has created an unfortunate irony – the state has everything, yet nothing.
READ: The story of a lost generation
Nepal Earthquake
From political leaders to business entities to common people, all played insensitive fools by making stupid comments on the tragedy that devastated the neighbouring country. While social media helped families and friends of those affected by the earthquake connect with them, it also played a spoilt brat, showing little restraint in its reactions
READ: It is a tragedy, stupid
Missing girl child
More than 1,27,71,043 girls are missing in India. These girls have not vanished overnight but were killed in the uterus between 2000 and 2014. This is almost half of the total sex selective abortions across the globe in this period and also the highest in the world followed by China and Pakistan. Around the world, as many as 2,45,61,345 girls disappeared before birth in the last 14 years
READ: The data about the missing girl child
The interaction between active Western Disturbances, increased atmospheric moisture and the region’s complex topography aswell as global warming are important factors behind intense rainfall in the Himalayas, leading to flash floods in Nepal, according to meteorologists. Nepal
Last summer, the two of us spent several weeks in rural Madhya Pradesh with a non-profit that works on gender justice through women’s self-help groups. We went in with a notebook full of laws. The Protection of Women from Domestic Violence Act. The Dowry Prohibition Act. Free legal aid for every wo
Digital payments have become a reflex for urban India, but the confidence earned in paying has not yet carried over to borrowing. That is the central finding of `How Urban India Pays Report 2026`, released by Pahlé India Foundation in collaboration with Amazon Pay. Based on a survey of 5,149 consu
Commerce and industry minister Piyush Goyal has called upon businesses in India and the United Kingdom to translate the opportunities created by the India-UK Comprehensive Economic and Trade Agreement (CETA) into expanded trade, investment, partnerships and job creation. Addressing the Bu
The Gandhian movement in India, after Gandhi’s death, failed, says Ramachandra Guha, and blames Vinoba Bhave for it. But the movement found new, fertile grounds around the world and succeeded in bringing about a change in South Africa, the US and elsewhere. It is high time it returned home. Of cour
Tavleen Singh, noted journalist and political commentator, has turned to fiction, with her debut novel ‘The Actor’ (HaperCollins India). Set in the near future, it has a superstar, Amit Singh, turning to politics, when the political landscape is dominated by prime minister Guru Gaynendraj
