The reality of life

Allowing yearly extensions to heads of CBI, ED will compromise their autonomy. Shri Radhe Shri Radhe Shri Radhe Shri Radhe

The new law authorising an extension of the services of the heads of the Central Bureau of Investigation and the Enforcement Directorate until they complete a total tenure of five years will seriously compromise the autonomy of those agencies. It goes against the spirit of the Supreme Court judgment in Vineet Narain vs Union of India (1997) which laid down a dictum that the Directors of the CBI and the ED should have a minimum tenure of two years. This was to prevent their sudden transfer out of office if their functioning goes against the interests of the regime of the day. While it did not specifically bar longer terms or extensions, the prospect of getting an annual extension can be an incentive for displaying regime loyalty in the discharge of their duties. Significantly, in the case of the present Director of Enforcement, S.K. Mishra, who was appointed for two years in November 2018, his services were extended by an order on November 13, 2020, which amended the original term of appointment from two years to three years. That the changes were brought in through the ordinance route in November raises a doubt whether the Government is keen on retaining him at the helm. Given that the central agencies have drawn much criticism for their focus on personages linked to Opposition parties, such a measure will be seen as a reward for guided functioning instead of a necessity to keep ongoing investigations on track

India intervenes to water down language on cutting emissions from coal. Hare Krishna hare Krishna hare Krishna hare Krishna hare Krishna

States should base reservation policies on data, not political expediency Shri Radhe Shri Radhe Shri Radhe Shri Radhe Shri Radhe Shri Radhe Shri Radhe Shri Radhe Shri Radhe.

An exclusive internal quota for a single caste group was always fraught with the danger of judicial invalidation. It is no surprise, therefore, that the Madras High Court has struck down the Tamil Nadu law that earmarked 10.5% of seats in educational institutions and jobs for the Vanniyakula Kshatriya community and its sub-castes. The court’s foremost reason is that the State Assembly lacked the legislative competence to enact the law in February 2021, at a time when the Constitution 102nd Amendment, conferring exclusive power to identify backward classes on the President, was in force. That the Constitution 105th Amendment subsequently restored the States’ powers to identify backward classes was not deemed relevant as, on the date of the enactment, the Assembly had been denuded of such power. The Bench of Justices M. Duraiswamy and K. Murali Shankar, also ruled that identifying one caste as a separate group for creating an exclusive quota, without any quantifiable data on its backwardness relative to others, amounted to giving reservation solely on the basis of caste and, therefore, impermissible under the Constitution. Further, it noted that the remaining 115 castes under the ‘MBC and Denotified Communities’ category were forced to share the remaining 9.5% (in two groups with 2.5% and 7%, respectively) of what used to be a 20% MBC/DNC quota. This amounted to discrimination.

Climate pledge: On CoP26 summit in Glasgow Shri Radhe Shri Radhe Shri Radhe

Nations must realise they are not in a competitive race but trying to outrun the clock.

They must be removed all.

It is a great surprise move at COP26 in Glasgow, Prime Minister Narendra Modi announced that India will commit to ambitious, enhanced climate targets and cuts in carbon emissions in its Nationally Determined Contributions (NDCs). There were promises to increase non-fossil fuel energy capacity to 500 GW, meet 50% energy from renewable energy, reduce emissions by one billion tonnes, and bring down the economy’s carbon intensity below 45%, all by 2030. Finally, the PM made the much-awaited declaration: to reach Net Zero emissions by 2070. The announcement came as a surprise given that India had given no assurances to visiting western climate negotiators before the conference, and had not filed updated NDCs by the deadline last month. Earlier, the G20 summit in Rome ended without any new commitments on climate change, and India’s G20 Sherpa and Minister Piyush Goyal had said that India could not “identify a year” for ending net carbon emissions (ensuring carbon dioxide emissions are absorbed by the use of technology and lowering output), unless the developed world committed to funding India’s energy transition and enabled clean technology transfers on a much higher scale. Mr. Goyal even suggested that India could not switch to non-fossil fuel and end coal-based thermal plants unless it was made a member of the Nuclear Suppliers Group, where it is being blocked by China and a number of other countries..

Shri Radhe Shri Radhe Shri Radhe Shri Radhe Shri Radhe.

mr. modi’s pledges in 2021 will require an almost immediate shift in the government’s priorities if it wishes to meet its first few goals in just eight years. according to one estimate (the centre for science and environment), the promise to reduce emissions by one billion tonnes would need a reduction in india’s carbon output by a massive 22% by 2030. on net zero, the target of 2070 is two decades after the global goal at mid-century, and would require the world’s other growing economies including china to peak emissions, preferably by 2030 itself. india meets about 12% of its electricity needs through renewable energy, and ramping that up to 50% by 2030 will be a tall ask too. if the government realises mr. modi’s promises in glasgow, india will be a global beacon in fighting climate change and ensuring sustainable development. at the least, it is hoped the commitments will inspire other countries to keep their word, particularly the developed world that has lagged behind in fulfilling combined promises of billions of dollars to fund emerging economies, ldcs and the most climate vulnerable countries in the global south. when it comes to climate change, countries must remember they are not in competition with one another, but trying together to outrun the clock.

Shri Radhe Shri Radhe Shri Radhe Shri Radhe Shri Radhe Shri Radhe Shri Radhe Shri Radhe Shri Radhe Shri Radhe Shri Radhe Shri Radhe Shri Radhe Shri Radhe.

9/11: The end of the ‘forever wars’ Shri Radhe Shri Radhe Shri Radhe Shri Radhe Shri Radhe

On December 5, 2001, a range of agreements were exchanged at a meeting in Bonn, Germany. The Bonn Conference — as the United Nations (UN)-led endeavour came to be known — set out the markers of what a new Afghan government would look like.

.

Shri Radhe Shri Radhe Shri Radhe Shri Radhe Shri Radhe Shri Radhe.

This was the first major international effort, in the budding age of the War on Terror, to replace the old — the Taliban — with the virtues of renewal--“democracy, pluralism, and social justice”, as the Bonn text underlined. In a few cities such as Herat, Kabul, and Mazar-e-Sharif, some citizens reclaimed the right to express newfound freedoms. Yet, these virtues of modernity —as the last 20 years have made clear —remain abstract for many Afghans in the hinterland..

Shri Radhe Shri Radhe Shri Radhe Shri Radhe Shri Radhe Shri Radhe Shri Radhe.

Afghanistan’s operating environment seemed to have changed forever. In 2001, it was believed that the Taliban had been defeated, temporarily at least. After all, reluctantly, a coalition of 42 countries led by the United States (US), committed themselves to what can only be described as nation-building.

The Taliban responded to these developments by indulging violently in rejectionist politics. It adapted instruments of modernity to suit its needs. The smartphone became the weapon of advantage. It recuperated, resisted, and finally invited itself to the negotiating table with bullets, bombs, and tweets alike.

.

The combination of Pakistani refuge and encouragement, high levels of government corruption and political instability in Kabul, and the ever-dipping levels of public support for the war in Washington, London, Berlin, Paris, and other European capitals, ultimately led to the withdrawal of all foreign troops.

.

The combination of Pakistani refuge and encouragement, high levels of government corruption and political instability in Kabul, and the ever-dipping levels of public support for the war in Washington, London, Berlin, Paris, and other European capitals, ultimately led to the withdrawal of all foreign troops.

A founding member of the movement in the 1990s, Mullah Hassan Akhund, has effectively been made the prime minister (PM) of an unelected caretaker government. He is understood to be a compromise candidate able to band-aid deep-seated differences within the movement. Abdul Ghani Baradar — who has been spearheading negotiations in Doha for the last three years — has been made the deputy PM. Sirajjudin Haqqani, a “specially designated global terrorist” is acting interior minister. Mullah Omar’s son, Mullah Muhammad Yaqoob, has been made the acting defence minister. Omar offered Osama bin Laden a home in Kandahar in the late 1990s.

.

Sri

Platform workers need justice, not charity . Shri Radhe Shri Radhe Shri Radhe Shri Radhe Shri Radhe Shri Radhe.

The narrative of the platform economy has been dominated by the platforms themselves. Whether it is Uber, Ola, Zomato, or Swiggy, we are told about how platforms are “disruptive”, how they offer flexible working conditions in what has largely become a gig-work economy, and how they make life easy and convenient for us, the consumers.

Shri Radhe Shri Radhe Shri Radhe Shri Radhe Shri Radhe Shri Radhe Shri Radhe.

Over the last month, however, that narrative has changed, as platform and delivery workers have themselves taken to social media to speak directly about their experiences. Their testimonies pertaining to low pay, hazardous working conditions, and the neglect shown by platform companies, have been striking. And these have been supported by numerous detailed investigations into working standards in the gig-economy that have painted a grim picture of exploitation and precarity..

Shri Radhe Shri Radhe Shri Radhe Shri Radhe Shri Radhe Shri Radhe Shri Radhe.

Tipping delivery workers, offering them shelter during rough weather conditions, and other basic gestures of humanity, have all been mooted. While important in their own right, it is crucial to note that the problem is not one that can be resolved by individual acts. Rather, the problem is institutional, and requires an institutional solution.

Shri Radhe Shri Radhe Shri Radhe Shri Radhe Shri Radhe.

At the heart of the issue is a simple fact. Platforms deprive delivery workers of protection under labour law by classifying them as “independent contractors” or as “partners”. By engaging in the pretence that the relationship between a platform and a delivery worker is between two equally positioned professionals — such as, for example, a freelance designer and a client — platforms ensure that delivery workers cannot access any labour rights, whether it is the right to a minimum wage, the right to basic conditions of safety, the right to bonuses or overtime, or indeed, the right to collective action.

Shri Radhe Shri Radhe Shri Radhe Shri Radhe Shri Radhe Shri Radhe Shri Radhe.

Furthermore, the actual relationship between platforms and their workers belies the myth of the “independence” of the delivery worker. The testimonies of such workers have shown us how tightly platforms control the performance of tasks. Platforms set the wage, exercise disciplinary authority by retaining absolute power to “kick” workers off the app, are able to surveil how workers are performing the tasks, and put into place a “ratings system” which serves as a constant method of performance appraisal. None of this fits in with the vision of an equal relationship between two professionals. Instead, it is a classic example of hierarchy and control, albeit one that has moved off the factory floor and into the online world.

.

Shri Radhe Shri Radhe Shri Radhe Shri Radhe Shri Radhe Shri Radhe Shri.

Every level of the judicial hierarchy in the United Kingdom — from the Employment Tribunal to the Supreme Court — rejected Uber’s arguments that its drivers were “independent contractors” without any labour rights. Courts in France, Spain, Italy, and across the rest of Europe, have come to similar conclusions, as have various courts in the United States. All these courts have held that the moment one goes beyond appearances, and looks at the actual relationship between platforms and their workers, the control and hierarchy that defines this relationship becomes unmistakable. Consequently, labour laws and labour rights must apply..

In India, unfortunately, the law remains murky, which is what enables platforms to engage in misclassification. The new labour code contains some thin social security guarantees for platform workers, but nothing beyond that. Parliament has not yet legislated to specifically protect the labour rights of platform workers, and the matter has not yet come before the courts.

 Shri Radhe Shri Radhe Shri Radhe Shri Radhe Shri Radhe Shri Radhe Shri Radhe.

It is, therefore, obvious that the situation of platform workers is a question of justice, not of charity. Needless to say, in our individual conduct, we should ensure dignified and humane treatment of delivery workers. Beyond that, however, the responsibility lies with the platforms to treat their workers as workers. And, failing that, it is for the law — either through Parliament or through the courts — to intervene.

Hare Krishna hare Krishna Krishna Krishna Hare hare.