Caste in Employment
Key Dalit faces air dissent on SC sub-classification ruling, fear quota fallout, flag social discrimination
The Vanchit Bahujan Aghadi (VBA)’s president Prakash Ambedkar has criticised the Supreme Court Constitution Bench’s judgment allowing states to sub-classify the Scheduled Castes (SCs) / Scheduled Tribes (STs) to ensure grant of quota to more backward castes in these groups, saying the ruling “goes against the letter and spirit of reservation enshrined in the Constitution”. He said if any sub-classification of these reserved groups has to be carried out, then it must be done by Parliament.
Why a post-doc is cleaning septic tanks in Tamil Nadu
In the footnotes of the Supreme Court’s verdict on sub-categorisation of SC/STs is a name – Ravichandran Bathran. The story of the man in the footnote. What the footnote does not reveal is Bathran’s very struggle to break the shackles of the caste system and why he thinks sub-categorisation of Dalits for the purpose of reservation is important.
Employment News
Reliance Industries cut workforce by 11% in 2023-24, retail segment sees highest number of cuts
Reliance Industries cut its workforce by 11%, with Reliance Retail alone seeing 38,000 less employees at the end of FY 2023-24.
Why temp jobs are here to stay
The Indian job market is at an inflection point. While the traditional full-time model persists, a silent revolution is brewing: the rise of temporary work. Studies by the World Employment Confederation and International Labour Organisation (ILO) paint a clear picture: temporary work is on the rise globally.
White collar job openings at India Inc shrink in July
The number of active openings in July is a 4% degrowth over July 2023 and a 10% degrowth over July 2021, according to the data of white collar vacancies for professionals with one year of experience and above. However, officials at large conglomerates and top corporations attributed the drop in the number of vacancies to a lull typical during electoral activity and the continuing headwinds in the IT services sector, the biggest single contributor to the white-collar job market.
In the Courts
Sub-Classification Permissible Within Scheduled Castes To Give Separate Quotas For More Backwards : Supreme Court
The verdict means that States can identify more backwards among the SC categories and can sub-classify them for separate quota within the quota.
Farm News
Farm Weather Advisory Offices Nationwide Shut, As Niti Aayog Misrepresents Their Role, Seeks Privatisation
Bengaluru: As the accelerating pace of climate change and a worsening farm crisis endangers the livelihoods of India’s 145 million farmers, the government of Prime Minister Narendra Modi ended critical weather-advisory services without accounting for their benefits, according to right-to-information responses obtained by this reporter… First set up in 2018, agromet units provided farmers free-of-cost weather advisory services, and crucial information related to sowing, use of fertilisers, harvesting and storing crops. These advisories were sent to farmers via WhatsApp groups, text messages, mobile applications such as Meghdoot, TV and radio programs, local newspapers and also direct communication from officers in the Krishi Vigyan Kendras ( KVKs).
‘Every farmer in Sikar answers MP Amra Ram’s call’. He is more than just spectacle politics
Amra Ram is no ordinary politician. He’s the only communist MP elected from North India, representing Sikar in Rajasthan. he rode in a tractor all the way to Parliament to be sworn in this June. Sikar is like a red island in Rajasthan’s sea of saffron, and Amra Ram is the showman captain of a surprisingly sturdy CPI(M) ship.
Haryana to buy all 23 crops at MSP says Saini
Launching the BJP’s poll campaign ahead of Haryana Assembly elections, CM Nayab Singh Saini Sunday said the state government would procure all 23 crops at MSP announced by the Centre and announced the waiving of Rs 133 crore in outstanding canal water irrigation charges.
Women in the Workforce
Is menstrual leave anti-feminist?
Allowing women the right to menstruate in comfort without worrying about work for a day or two does not render them incapable or weak.
Profiles
Respect Over Rupees: How One Garment Factory Prioritised Workers (and Earned Their Loyalty)
As Bengaluru-based Namasthe Exports has shut down, long-time workers reminisce about the workplace that gave them stability, dignity & the occasional masala dosai treat.
Analysis
Coaching centres are a sign of broken-window economics. See how China crushed it all overnight
How broken does our governance have to be, and how incredible our hypocrisy, that we cannot make profits from educating young Indians, but earn thousands of crores by giving them tuitions?
Does the Budget Give Us Jobs?
The schemes related to the Employees’ Provident Fund Organisation are merely to support formalisation, not new jobs. Government economists will not tell you this basic fact. There has been a rising number of contract workers in the organised sector: if they are begun to be shown in the employers’ payroll for regular workers, then their EPFO costs will be – for a limited period – be borne by the government. This is unlikely to create new jobs. This is not stated, but it is the reality.
Endangered Workers
Bengal succour for Wayanad migrants
The Bengal government on Friday launched an effort to reach out to migrant workers from Bengal stuck in landslide-hit Wayanad with the assurance of all possible help after information reached Nabanna that some of them were finding it difficult to return home due to the devastation that had flattened large parts of the Kerala hill district. Kerala is estimated to have around 9 lakh migrant workers from Bengal.
242 migrant labourers from Bengal stranded in landslide-hit Wayanad: Minister
KOLKATA: West Bengal Labour Minister Moloy Ghatak informed the assembly on Friday that 242 migrant labourers from the state are stranded in landslide-hit Wayanad district in Kerala. Replying to a query by Hingalganj TMC MLA Debes Mandal, Ghatak said in the assembly that the state administration has established contact with 155 of them.
Schools become home for migrant workers in Wayanad
KALPETTA: Schools in Wayanad have become temporary shelters for migrant labourers from various states after the disaster. SKMJ School in Kalpetta, Depaul School, and Cottanad Government UP School are housing migrant labourers who were working in the landslide-hit areas. Many migrants from Madhya Pradesh, Bihar, and Assam expressed a desire to return to their villages.
Policy Changes
Assam to get domicile policy soon, only those born in state to get govt jobs: CM Himanta Biswa Sarma
NEW DELH: Assam will bring in a new domicile policy that will allow only those born in the state to be entitled for government jobs, chief minister Himanta Biswa Sarma said. The move is aimed at addressing the state's changing demography, which Sarma has said is a "huge concern" and a "matter of life and death" for him.
Labour in Parliament
No reports of manual scavenging in last five years: Union minister
On July 24 Minister of State for Social Justice and Empowerment Ramdas Athawale told Parliament that ‘there is no report of manual scavenging in the country in the last five years’ and that out of the total 6,256 cases uploaded on the mobile app from 114 districts, all cases were verified and none was found credible. The Safai Karamchari Andolan has demanded that the Prime Minister bring out a white paper on the work done by the government for manual scavengers in the last 10 years and release a special package for the liberation and rehabilitation of manual scavengers.
Research
A Field Study of Rajasthan’s Urban Employment Guarantee Programme
Rajasthan’s urban Indira Gandhi Shahri Rozgar Guarantee Yojana, launched in 2022, has worked well so far and should be continued. There is of course room for improvement. Implementation needs to be bettered, the reach has to be extended and more kinds of work have to be covered in the programme.
Child Labour News
73 Child Labourers Freed From 2 Factories In 2 days
In the rescue operations conducted on Monday and Tuesday, 18 children were freed from a jute factory in northeast Delhi’s Bhajanpura and another 55 from a toy factory in northwest Delhi’s Narela-Bawana.
Recruitment Anxiety
Uncertainty over fate of 1,145 Delhi University jobs after NTA exam was red-flagged over ‘discrepancies’
Much before the National Testing Agency (NTA) came under the spotlight over the paper leaks allegations involving the CUET-UG, NEET-UG, UGC-NET, and CSIR-UGC-NET exams, it was accused of failing to conduct recruitment exams for 1,145 vacant non-teaching posts in Delhi University.