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The case of demolitions, first and foremost, is a case of State and societal apathy. One central question that is missing from most discussions is why these people ‘occupying’ the ‘illegal encroachments’ to be demolished had to live as they did, to begin with? Why do people leave the comfort of their villages, the familiarity of it all, for a city and a world that only sees them as encroachers? A word that is ironically similar to roaches.

Kolkata: Champions FC Goa (FCG) played a 2-2 draw with Bengaluru FC in a Group A and bowed out of the 131st IndianOil Durand Cup football tournament at the Vivekananda Yuba Bharati Krirangan (VYBK) here Tuesday.

When formal organized sector of the economy has been creating fewer and fewer jobs, the majority of Indian workforce is left with no option but to join informal unorganised sector where they don’t get even regular minimum wages in time and no social security coverage. Even informal workers under Union Government’s Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (MGNREGA) scheme, millions of workers are not being paid for months, despite the Supreme Court of India’s observation that it amounted to ‘forced labour’.

While there are plenty of important primary elections happening now, and even bigger general elections happening in the fall, Senator Bernie Sanders’s rallies in Philadelphia and Boston earlier this month were focused on something entirely different: the struggles of the working class and the importance of building the labor movement.

Next month September will bring about a major turnaround in Indian polity with Chief Minister Nitish Kumar determined to launch the colossal task of bringing together the opposition parties on one common platform amidst the scenario of perverse failure of Modi-Shah design to keep him confined to Bihar.

It is good to know that Russia and India are in an advanced stage of discussion on accepting each other’s debit and credit cards. Should the two countries agree, Indian ATMs (automated teller machines) will soon accept Russian MIR cards. And, Indian RuPay cards will be accepted in Russia. Further, the two countries are considering the mutual implementation of interbank transfer services — India’s Unified Payments Interface (UPI) and SPFS, the Russian version of SWIFT. India’s acceptance of MIR cards will provide a big boost to the five-year-old Russian electronic fund transfer system at a time when the country is facing wide-ranging financial sanctions from western countries and Japan.

Pakistan is currently devastated by an unprecedented floods leading to the death of more than 1,000 persons till now. The struggling coalition of government of Shabaz Sharif is desperately trying to meet the challenge of this sudden natural calamity which has further given a jolt to its ailing economy. The poor workers and the peasants in the affected areas are suffering most. But still the workers organisations and the farmers bodies are continuing with their struggle for minimum wages and much needed land reforms.

With Nepal disallowing the Indian Army’s proposal to recruit Gorkhas to join its new Agneepath scheme, India’s uneasy relations with its regional neighbours have surfaced again. Under the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party, often perceived as being ‘right wing’, India cannot apparently avoid its diplomatic missteps in dealing with its smaller neighbours.

“Towers of corruption demolished”, the shrill voice rising above the plumes of billowing dust. Somebody called it “spectacle demolition”, no less symbolic than the 1992 demolition of a 500-year-old mosque. The voice had its roots in Uttar Pradesh. The Supertech Twin Towers of corruption were brought down at the Supreme Court’s intervention.

The war between Russia and Ukraine with an overt involvement of the NATO has killed thousands, pushed millions to refugee status and caused immense destruction of resources. Much in danger are the nuclear power plants in Ukraine which if damaged by intentional attack, accident, technology failure or cybercrime, would become potential nuclear bomb. The Plant at Zaporhizhzhia which has been occupied by the Russian forces can be a flash point. Ukraine has a history of dreadful Chernobyl nuclear accident.