AS people all over the world ushered in the new year, a major accident took place due to illegal mining in Khanak Dadam hills of Bhiwani district of Haryana. In this January 1 accident, five labourers died and two were seriously injured. There was a big explosion in the hill of Dadam at 9 in the morning in which seven labourers and two pokland machines and four dumper vehicles were buried under the stones. A stone slipped from the mountain and fell, whose length was 40 feet, the width was 30 feet and whose weight is said to be seven tons.

ONE month after the suspension of the historic farmers’ struggle on December 11, 2021, the Samyukta Kisan Morcha (SKM) met at the Singhu border on January 15, 2022. Over 250 leaders of various Kisan organisations attended. The four-member presidium of the meeting comprised Yudhvir Singh, Ashok Dhawale, Joginder Singh Ugrahan and Jagjit Singh Dallewal. The AIKS was also represented by P Krishnaprasad, Inderjit Singh and Sumit.

THE recent Sulli Deals and Bulli Bai cases targeting Muslim women show the deep anti-women and communal mindset combined with the use of tech tools and social media platforms. Perhaps not so surprising is that the police authorities appear to have been very casual in their investigations when the Sulli Deals had emerged last year targeting about 100 Muslim women. It only reacted after Sulli Deals reappeared as Bulli Bai in early January this year. After widespread criticism and adverse international coverage, the police finally woke up to their responsibilities.

THE recent announcement by the union ministry of converting a part of what Vodafone-Idea (VI) owes to the government into its shareholding, is another step in the long story of crony capitalism and so-called reforms in the telecom sector. The government has taken a 35.8 per cent shareholding in VI to reduce the two hundred thousand crore rupees that VI owns the government, and postponed payments of the rest for four more years.

THOUSANDS of anganwadi workers and helpers in Haryana have been on strike for almost 40 days.  This movement, which started under the leadership of the joint coordination committee(JCC) headed by three unions, continues despite the rain and bitter cold, the workers and helpers are on strike.HOW DID THE MOVEMENT START?A joint meeting was convened on November 22, bringing the three anganwadi unions on a single platform on their issues.  The CITU affiliated unions account for half of the workforce in the state among anganwadi workers.  A JCC was formed in the meeting with the