Migrant Realities
Migrant mill workers from UP, Bihar shot at by masked assailants in Punjab, Instagram video claims attack
BATHINDA: In a deeply unsettling incident in Punjab, three masked gunmen opened fire on a group of 10 migrant mill workers from Bihar and Uttar Pradesh in rural Moga on Tuesday, injuring two and triggering alarm over a possible escalation in anti-migrant violence. The shooting took place on the Moga–Zira road which houses several rice mills and factories employing large numbers of migrant workers. The Instagram post which claimed responsibility for the attacks has been removed.
Employment News
J&K's unemployment rate of 6.7% much above national average
Jammu and Kashmir's unemployment rate stands at 6.7 percent. This figure is significantly higher than the national average of 3.5%. A survey identified 4.73 lakh individuals aged 18 to 60 who are not working but are willing to work. The government is prioritizing job creation and entrepreneurship through initiatives like Mission YUVA to address this challenge.
Unemployment at 4.8% in Oct-Dec, but share of salaried jobs down again
While the Labour Force Participation Rate rose to 55.8% in the last quarter of 2025, the share of agriculture sector jobs rose, according to the statistics ministry's latest Periodic Labour Force Survey report.
VB-GRAMG and the Recasting of Rural Social Protection
Replacing MGNREGA with the Viksit Bharat mission signals a shift from demand-driven entitlement to discretionary social protection with fiscal caps. Technology, and centralisation recast labour claims as compliance, reconfiguring state-worker relations and risking greater exclusion.
In the Courts
Article 23: Enforced for Teachers, Overlooked for Domestic Workers
When one bench of the SC can invoke Article 23 to secure dignity for teachers while another declines to extend the same analysis to domestic workers, it suggests the problem lies in judicial willingness to apply it uniformly.
Supreme Court's Retreat on Domestic Workers: A Betrayal of Its Own Article 23 Jurisprudence
By refusing to declare that domestic workers possess a fundamental right to minimum wage under Article 23, the top court has not merely declined to issue a mandamus but it has also contradicted its own transformative constitutional jurisprudence spanning over four decades.
Supreme Court directs West Bengal govt to pay dearness allowance to its employees from 2008-2019
The Supreme Court has ordered the West Bengal government to pay dearness allowance (DA) to nearly 20 lakh employees for the 2008-2019 period, deeming it a legally enforceable right. A committee has been formed to determine the total outstanding amount and payment schedule, with the first installment due by March 31. The apex court said dearness allowance emerges as a practical instrument of protection in the hands of a welfare state, which safeguards its employees from the adverse effects of rising prices.
Women in the Workforce
‘Unblock our lives’ | Women gig workers protest in Delhi
The women partners of service provider Urban Company are protesting against the lack of flexibility, a promise that initially pulled them in. They speak about being stuck in a loop of algorithmic exploitation and constant surveillance.
Dying at Work
IED wires, detonators found: Deadly blast in illegal rat-hole mine in Meghalaya raises glaring questions
It has been three days since blast in Thangsko region of East Jaintia Hills. While 27 mine workers are dead, nine are in hospital and more bodies are believed buried in illegal mines. “Nobody wants to work in such places. We don’t have work back in Nepal, so that’s why we come here to work. But I never thought this would happen and there would be nobody to help us. I don’t have money to eat. I walked eight hours and couldn’t eat anything on my way. The administration hasn’t made any arrangement for people like me—no food, no compensation,” another rat-hole coal mine worker told ThePrint, showing his hands covered in coal dust. (Pix: The mining site).
Labour Demands
Bharat Bandh today--live updates: Flop show or flashpoint? Here's a state-wise impact check and more
Reports on response to the Bandh from Kerala, Jharkhand, Guwahati, Odisha, Moga and Karnataka.
Labour Laws के खिलाफ देशव्यापी Strike,Delhi में गुंजी मजदूरों की आवाज
VIDEO: Today, 12th February, trade unions and Left parties observed a nationwide strike against the four new labour codes and other demands. In the national capital, Delhi, hundreds of workers and union members gathered at Jantar Mantar to protest.
Profiles
For the worker, by the worker, of the worker—Kerala cooperative’s century-old push for growth with dignity
The Uralungal Labour Contract Co-operative Society (ULCCS) runs ventures ranging from construction to social care for the elderly and intellectually challenged. Headquartered in Vatakara in Kozhikode district, the worker-owned cooperative was founded in 1925 to provide employment and dignity in a system marked by discrimination. A century later, ULCCS it is one of the country’s largest labour cooperatives, where worker welfare is non-negotiable and employees still hold all the shares. Construction workers at the site earn Rs 1,030 a day, besides medical health insurance, and a yearly bonus of 12 percent of their total salary. They also get free food and lodging.
Caste in Employment
Dalit cook row shuts anganwadi centre for three months in Odisha's Kendrapara village
KENDRAPARA: Exposing the deep-rooted caste prejudice still prevailing in the society, residents of a village in Kendrapara district’s Rajnagar block have allegedly stopped sending their children to the local anganwadi centre after the appointment of a dalit woman as a helper-cum-cook nearly three months ago.
Govt Vacancies
2,645 vacancies across AAI, 3 aviation regulators
The government has informed Parliament that a combined 2,645 posts remain unfilled at the Airports Authority of India (AAI) and three key aviation watchdogs -- Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA), Bureau of Civil Aviation Security (BCAS) and Airports Economic Regulatory Authority of India (AERA)...At DGCA alone, 787 posts are vacant, a situation attributed largely to organisational restructuring. The minister said the shortfall is 'largely due to the creation of 441 additional posts as part of the restructuring undertaken during 2022-2024.'
Labour Reforms
New Labour Codes Put Capital's Priorities First
India’s new Labour Codes relegate worker interests to state or employer discretion. This deepens precarity and wealth concentration. Addressing these outcomes requires more than amendments; it demands a strategic rethinking of the evolving capital-labour contract shaping India’s future workforce.
Impact of New Labour Codes on Workers
The new labour codes promised labour market reform but suffer major shortcomings, including on limited collective bargaining, flawed minimum wages, gender inequities, and inadequate social security. These require significant rethinking to align with international labour standards.
Benefits for Workers
Beyond work permits: Singapore scales support for its migrant workforce
Singapore’s architectural landscape is built by nearly half a million low-wage migrant workers, mostly from India, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka and China. They constitute a 1.18 million migrant workforce which includes 4.6 lakh blue-collar workers who perform manual labour in construction, maritime and process centres. In 2020, migrant workers living in dormitories made up for 90 percent of Covid-19 cases in Singapore. When their appalling living conditions became known, a philanthropic initiative called MigrantWell Singapore was launched with seed capital of S$20 million by two prominent business families to support migrant workers. They now have access to community clinics which offer low cost healthcare and free physiotherapy.
India’s first Agniveers
Career progression of Agniveers: Home Ministry sidesteps Rahul Gandhi’s query
The Union Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) on Tuesday (February 10, 2026) evaded a response to a pointed question from Leader of the Opposition Rahul Gandhi in Lok Sabha on why it—and not the Ministry of Defence—has been assigned the responsibility of coordinating the career progression of Agniveers, despite their service in the armed forces. In a written reply the Minister of State for Home said the subject of ‘coordinating activities for further progress of Ex-Agniveers’ is allocated to the MHA. The reply added, “A dedicated ex-Agniveer wing and an ex-Agniveer cell have been created within the MHA for smooth coordination, monitoring, and formulation of rehabilitation policies for ex-Agniveers.”
Farm News
In Tamil Nadu, Farmers Are Locked in a 1000-Day Protest Against an Airport
The government of Tamil Nadu has undertaken a project that threatens to destroy vast expanses of agricultural land, vital water bodies, houses, and the livelihoods of thousands of farmers. The government has floated a massive second airport in Chennai…Tamil Nadu authorities received site clearance from the Ministry of Civil Aviation (MoCA) in August 2024 and are currently awaiting in-principle approval from the same ministry. This airport will be established on 5,369 acres, spread over 20 villages in the Kancheepuram district, of which 3,424 acres is fertile agricultural land, and 1,423 acres cover vital water bodies, including lakes and ponds.
Eco India: How a climate resilient cotton variety is boosting livelihoods in Kutch's arid lands
Historically, Kala Cotton sustained livelihoods from the time of the Harappan civilisation, through centuries of hand spinning and natural dyeing.
A patch of land, a plate of veggies, and a quiet revolution by Beed’s women
In Maharashtra’s drought-prone Marathwada region, where poor diets have to contend with an unforgiving terrain, a few women are breaking the cycle of punishing labour and persistent illness by making a simple yet firm decision: to fight for a small patch of land to grow vegetables that can help them meet their nutritional needs.
Outdoor Workers
How Delhi’s security guards battle cold, smog, and anti-pollution curbs
VIDEO: While Delhi sleeps behind locked gates, hundreds of private security guards fight a silent battle against cold winters and toxic smog amid government-imposed bans on biomass burning.