ALL the more than 20 toll plazas of Haryana have been ‘liberated’ by the powerful farmers’ movement.  Everyday, hundreds of women and men from the neighbouring villages collect at different plazas from 10 in the morning till 3 in the afternoon.  The AIKS, DYFI and SFI have played an important role in organising the dharnas and it is the AIDWA state unit that has held hundreds of meetings in villages to mobilise women to join the dharnas.

STEPHEN Hawking would turn in his grave if he were to get to know the contents of the Draft Uttar Pradesh Population (Control, Stabilisation and Welfare) Bill. Had he been a resident of Uttar Pradesh, in one stroke, he would have become persona non grata.Nearer home, Noida CITU leader Ramsagar has three children. Both the oldest and youngest are deaf. Ramsagar was bemused when told that once legislated, parents like him would not be seen in contravention of the two-child norm that the bill seeks to impose.That is precisely what Sec. 15 of the bill would do, if enacted.

FROM July 22, 2021, the SKM-led parallel kisan sansad (farmers’ parliament) began amidst great determination at Jantar Mantar in the nation’s capital New Delhi. It will continue till August 13, on all working days of parliament.

IN a letter written to director general of the International Labour Organisation, Geneva, on July 24, 2021, Tapan Sen, general secretary of CITU requested the intervention of the ILO against the move of the Indian government to ban industrial actions by civilian workers of defence production organisations.He asked the director general to recommend the government of India to withdraw a bill which has draconian provisions against the workers going for an industrial action.

THE space race was once between the Soviet Union and the United States. It is now – on the surface – between the three billionaires, Elon Musk, Jeff Bezos and Richard Branson. Two of them rode their sub-orbital flights, meaning that they cannot be considered as space flights as they did not reach a stable orbit around the earth. Branson’s ambitions are limited, more for a market for developing the exotica of space tourism. Elon Musk and his SpaceX have been playing for the long haul, with a series of rockets and launches including to the International Space Station.