discrimination

The Garments and Textile Workers Union (GATWU) staged a protest on 12th September, to oppose the apathetic attitude of the government and the factory owners. The protest, held in front of the Labour Department office at Dairy Circle, highlighted the inordinate delay in the fixing of minimum wages in the garment industry. It also pointed to the discrimination towards garment workers by the minimum wages committee, which had recommended extremely low wages. The Karnataka garments industry employs 3.5-4 lakh workers, and 85 percent of the workforce is female. These workers manufacture textiles for international brands and export them, earning substantial…

The death of the 23-year-old Delhi girl after her gang rape and brutality shook the conscience of the nation, even as more and more stories continue to be reported.Bengaluru has had its own share of cases involving sexual violence against women and 2012 was no different, indicating that the remains far from safe. According to the National Crime Records Bureau (NCRB) statistics for 2011, Bangalore had ranked fourth among cities of the country in recorded rape cases.Early in 2012, C C Patil, Minister for Women and Child Welfare, had advised women to “dress appropriately” so that they do not face…

It is seven days since the mass exodus of residents of North Eastern states from different parts of India including Bangalore, started. Though the number of people leaving has reduced, it is estimated that around 24,000 have fled. What was the reason for the panic, while there have been numerous assurances from all quarters that this is a safe city?Thousands of people from Assam, Manipur, Tripura, Meghalaya, Mizoram, Nagaland and Arunachal Pradesh flock to places like Bangalore, Pune, Hyderabad, Delhi and Chennai every year in search of better education and employment opportunities. While they have easy access to colleges and…

Courteous. Respectful. Almost obsequious. That's typically the treatment meted out to the well-heeled visitor at the entrance to any of the city's top-notch hotels. The exaggerated politeness is a sad illustration of the mile-high class barriers that permeate urban society. The erstwhile Taj Residency makes no bones about the policy of vehicular differentiation it practices. The Leela and Windsor Manor are more discrete: you just get booted by security. Pic: Kanishka Lahiri. A typical sequence of events is as follows. Mr Cool drives up in a chauffeur-driven BMW. Tinted windows, so dark they must surely be illegal, are rolled down…