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Thanks to Covid, the Modi government could put an abrupt end to the agitation against citizenship laws, albeit at a time when the movement was showing signs of spiraling out of control. But Covid has had no impact on the farmers agitation, as it has gone on despite the pandemic. One can say the agitation has survived the peak infection point, which by all indications is behind us. In fact, the rugged farmers, toughened by their struggle with the elements, have admittedly preferred ‘death by Covid’ rather than ‘death by the farm laws’, or ‘death by the committee’, a description that the agitating farmers had reserved for the Supreme Court-appointed experts committee, which fortunately or unfortunately, depending on whose side one Is, was stillborn.

Transparency and trust are two major — and interrelated — pillars of public policy decision-making. Transparency is the principle of allowing those affected by decisions to know about the outcome and the process that led to those decisions. Transparent governance means that government officials act in an open manner, with citizens being informed of the decisions they are making. Transparency has many components — availability of all relevant information in the public domain, a public discourse or debate based on this information and a final decision by the government, which acknowledges and addresses the issues raised during the debate.

Vasco: Mumbai City overcame a tough challenge from East Bengal to sneak in a 1-0 win in the Hero Indian Super League at the Tilak Maidan Stadium, here on Friday.

Santiago (Chile): Indian Junior Women’s Hockey Team put up a resilient performance to hold Chile Senior Team to a 2-2 draw here at the Prince of Wales Country Club on Thursday evening in their fourth match of the Tour.

Bambolim, Goa: Kerala Blasters face a tough challenge as they take on table topper Goa in the hero Indian Super League at the GMC Stadium, Bambolim on Saturday.

Chennai: Pranavi Urs carded four-under 68 on the final day for four-under 212 aggregate to win the second leg of the Hero Women’s Pro Tour at the TNGF Cosmo Golf Course in Chennai on Friday.

The Joint Platform of Central Trade Unions (CTUs) in statement on January 20 urged the government of India to put on hold all the four codes and then to start afresh discussions with the CTUs on each of the labour code in the true spirit of bipartite and tripartite consultations.

In a session packed with human stories of abuse and misuse of law where activists and commoners were abused, the People’s Union for Civil Liberties (PUCL) began a three-day session on January 20 with over 100 other organisations comprising advocates, activists and others who spoke about the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act.

As expected, union leaders warmly welcomed the January 20, inauguration of Democratic President Joe Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris, whom organized labor helped push to victory last fall.

In its systematic attempt to vilify the farmers’ movement against the three infamous agriculture bills that open peasant agriculture to corporate take-over, the government keeps using the argument that the opposition to these bills is confined to farmers only from a couple of states, that farmers from other states are happy with the bills. The falseness of this claim has been amply demonstrated, with the legislature in a state as far away as Kerala opposing these bills in a special session, and kisans in states like Tamil Nadu, Odisha, Maharashtra, and West Bengal, apart from Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan and Uttar Pradesh marching shoulder to shoulder with those opposing the bills. The claim that the opposition is confined only to a couple of states therefore is just a false red herring.