Workers’ Rights & Reports
ITUC’s Global Rights Index 2016, which ranked 141 countries on a scale of 1-5 on the basis of 97 international indicators such right to organise, collective bargaining, civil rights, freedom of association among others, has ranked India in Group 5 (no guarantee of rights), along with 25 countries, citing rising contracterisation and “disproportionate violence” against workers by the police and hired private security guards by some companies. Basically, India is one of the worst for countries as far as worker rights were concerned.
Just proving the point that we are horrible when it comes to worker rights, the human resources manager at Jindal Steel in Karnataka, has been found to be hitting two of the firm’s employees with an iron rod.
According to a report released by Sisters for Change, one in every seven women working in the garment industry in Bengaluru have faced sexual violence.
The Political Class & Their Opinions
A BJP MLA from, Ravindra Chavan, was seen drawing comparison between Dalits people and pigs while talking about “upliftment of the Dalits.”
In a moment of great “knowledge” (*sarcasm*), Minister for industries of Rajasthan Gajendra Singh said that rapes happen because of the internet and access to porn sites.
Madhya Pradesh Women and Child Development (WCD) minister Maya Singh, in yet another statement that seeks to police what women should wear, called for women to stop wearing naqaabs, by saying, “Mostly women wear naqaabs to protect themselves from the harmful rays of the sun but apart from this, they should not wear naqaabs.”
Other News
In yet another case of sexual violence in educational institutions, a top official of Vadodara-based Parul University has been arrested after a nursing student accused him of raping her. Jayesh Patel, the accused, is a Gujarat BJP leader and founder-president of the privately owned Parul University.
In Karnataka, a couple has been separated by the man’s family because he married a trans woman. They are now threatening to use Section 377 against them.
A 24-year-old woman employee of Infosys was hacked to death at Chennai’s Nungambakkam railway station at 6.30 am, while she was on her way to go to work. The incident not just talks about public safety for women, but also raised questions about public apathy.
A controversial move by the management of Delhi Public School in Srinagar, banning female Muslim teachers from wearing veil on the campus, has sparked furore across Jammu and Kashmir.
Rape Case Updates
The Chhattisgarh High Court Tuesday directed that the body of Madkam Hidme, who was killed in a fake encounter in Sukma’s Gompad village, be exhumed and a postmortem be conducted and videographed.
Local residents of Bedivan Madhuvan village in Bihar blocked National Highway 28 to protest against the gangrape of a 12-year-old girl last week.
In the case of rape & murder of student Jisha, the accused has been remanded to 10-day police custody. #JusticeForJisha
What We’re Reading
Kavita Krishnan tells us why she is critical about media’s sensitivity on Salman Khan’s ‘raped woman’ analogy.
And seven studies prove that mansplaining exists!
Featured Image Credit: An picture from the Bangalore Garment Workers Strike that happened recently | www.socialism.in
