GENRE: In Focus

This article is part of a special series: Safety of women in Indian cities Last November, the Karnataka government issued a notification allowing women employees in factories to work night shifts, along with their male counterparts. Until recently, night shift for women was allowed only in the IT and ITeS (IT enabled services) industries. As per the Factories Act, 1948, women were originally allowed to work only till 7 pm. This law was amended in 2007 to extend timings to 10 pm. With the new notification, factories registered under the Act can employ ‘willing women workers' in night shifts - that…

This article is part of a special series: Safety of women in Indian cities In December 2012, it felt like the ground under my feet was shaking. An upheaval seemed underway. True to the sensation, the world around me also began to show signs of an epoch-making era ahead of it: one that would call out the lackadaisical approach to violence against women, one that would witness radical changes in the laws and the security sector in ways that would prioritise justice for survivors of violence.  In December 2019, it felt like nothing had changed. Seven years had passed since…

This article is part of a special series: Safety of women in Indian cities With inputs from Shuriah Niazi, Sri Krishna, J Jahanvi and Raj Machhan The beginning of the year saw an important step taken towards implementation of the Disha Act passed by the Andhra Pradesh legislature in mid-December. On January 3rd, two women officers were appointed to ensure effective implementation of the new law, which provides for tougher punishment and faster delivery of justice in cases involving crimes against women and children. This was when the country was still in shock over the brutal gang rape and murder…

Huge unsold housing inventory across 35 cities in the country is one of the key reasons for the Great Indian Economic slowdown, according to former chief economic adviser Arvind Subramaniam. In a working paper titled "India's great slowdown- What happened? What's the way out?", Arvind Subramaniam estimates that this vacant real estate inventory has locked up funds worth Rs 13 lakh crores, resulting in huge unpaid loans to banks. "While developers could in principle tempt buyers by reducing prices, they couldn't do that in practice because lower prices would have destroyed the (notional) value of the collateral that they pledged…

Huge unsold housing inventory across 35 cities in the country is one of the key reasons for the Great Indian Economic slowdown, according to former chief economic adviser Arvind Subramaniam. In a working paper titled "India's great slowdown- What happened? What's the way out?", Arvind Subramaniam estimates that this vacant real estate inventory has locked up funds worth Rs 13 lakh crores, resulting in huge unpaid loans to banks. "While developers could in principle tempt buyers by reducing prices, they couldn't do that in practice because lower prices would have destroyed the (notional) value of the collateral that they pledged…

Feeling too lazy to step out of your home? Don’t like your PG/hostel food? Your spouse can’t cook? No time to prepare lunch? Ran out of groceries? For all these reasons and more, food delivery services are a quick, one-click solution for millennials. An aerial view of Chennai today would show the long stretch of beach, sparse tree cover, myriad projects under construction across the city... and a sea of red, orange and green riders dotting its roads. Rapidly growing market Such is the rapid growth of food delivery services in the city over the past 5 years. The market leader…

Take a walk around Bhiwandi. Much of what you will see are shuttered powerloom units gathering dust and rust. During its heyday, Bhiwandi, in Thane district, had the highest cluster of powerlooms in the country, and was a huge employment hub with workers hailing from other states like Madhya Pradesh, Uttar Pradesh and Bihar. Today this once-thriving business is facing extinction, thanks to GST, demonetisation and cheaper competition, rendering thousands of workers jobless.  “More than half the karigars (workers) have returned to their native place as major textile units have shut down,” said Dilshad Sayyed Ahmed Ansari, who has been working…

The Bengaluru Traffic Police (BTP) has a current strength of 4,638 personnel. Its sanctioned strength is 5,306 personnel, as per data obtained from the Traffic Management Centre. On the face of it, this indicates a shortfall in recruitment, of 12.59 per cent. Most of these -- 598 vacancies out of the 668 -- are for the post of police constables, the men on the street.  The shortfall may not seem like much.  Almost every police department in the country has some vacancies due to multiple reasons, says Bengaluru’s Joint Commissioner of Police (Traffic) B R Ravikanthe Gowda. “It is not…

The continued internet blockade in Kashmir region since August 3rd following the revocation of Article 370, has not only deprived the people of Srinagar and the rest of the valley of an essential means to connect with each other, it has also taken an unprecedented toll on business, education, tourism, health and entertainment. In essence, the internet blackout in Kashmir has not only led to job losses but also loss of confidence in doing business in the valley. Interestingly, a day after a communication blockade was imposed on Kashmir, Jio-fibre, a fibre cable internet service launched by the Reliance group, began operations…

With the passage of time and steady environmental degradation, the global push to conserve water bodies has intensified. For Chennai, which saw an unprecedented water crisis last summer when the city had to ferry in water, saving water bodies could be the only way out to avoid another Doomsday scenario.  Ironically, the state government does not seem to share such concern for the lakes and rivers of the city. The sad tale of Korattur Lake is evidence of that. Located in the central region of Chennai, this 590-acre water body is on its death bed: hazardous chemicals such as iron,…