As many as 190 people have died and over 200 injured in the massive landslides that hit Wayanad district two days ago, with the numbers expected to increase even more as rescuers unearth debris, the district administration said on Thursday.
The NHRC has observed that the content of the news report, if true, raise a serious issue of human rights of the workers in violation of the labour laws and the guidelines issued by the Union Ministry of Labour and Employment from time to time.
The search for survivors continues after several devastating landslides triggered by heavy rainfall hit the hills in Wayanad district.
'JD-U wants to emerge as the single largest party in Bihar after the next assembly polls by contesting more seats than the BJP.'
Here's a simple recipe or breakfast or as an evening snack at home.
In Kerala's society, known for its high material standard of living, plunging into a state of having nothing overnight can be terrible for one's social standing and sense of self-esteem. Rehabilitation entails piecing a community back together after a disturbance and while its aim is noble, the act of reassembling will bring alive disparities and inequalities, explains Shyam G Menon.
International Tea Day is a good occasion to brew a special pot of chai.
With crude palm oil prices on the rise, companies have started to jack up rates of soaps and edible oils in order to pass on the hike to consumers. Crude palm oil, one of the main ingredients in the manufacture of some consumer goods, saw a price rise of 45.2 per cent in the last three months. One of the country's largest consumer companies, Hindustan Unilever, said it has already started to take price increases in the skin cleansing category.
Heavy rain continued to lash Chennai and other parts of Tamil Nadu on Wednesday, bringing residential neighborhoods and roads under knee-deep water and leading to traffic congestion besides affecting public transport services.
The Assam government has taken the initiative to pay workers their wages electronically and has asked banks to open branches adjacent to tea gardens and install ATMs in estates.
When Kasturi Rajamurty won a gold medal in powerlifting at the WPPL World Cup in Russia, she sure had come a long way. From a life of penury to constantly being short of funds to fuel her passion, she had finally triumphed, and how.
A Bharatiya Janata Party office-bearer from Shirur in Maharashtra's Pune district has sought the removal of Deputy Chief Minister Ajit Pawar and his Nationalist Congress Party from the ruling alliance, which also consists of Chief Minister Eknath Shinde's Shiv Sena.
Rough estimates from plantation companies have pegged production loss in excess of 100 million kg (mkg) across India which is valued at around Rs 2000 crore. Usually, plantation companies in Assam and West Bengal produce around 15 per cent of the total tea during March-April.
A company spokesperson told Business Standard that Amazon was committed to the safety and well-being of its employees. "Disciplinary proceedings have been initiated against the people involved in the incident. "The process is underway and we are looking at a potential case of 'separation' for the people involved within the next week or two," the spokesperson added.
'It feels like Assam is good just as a tourist spot and not a place to earn and live.'
Production between January and mid-March declined by about 5.85 million kg.
The Congress maintained that the state government had not ordered any such inquiry and it could be an internal matter of the CID. A top CID official has also said that no formal inquiry was ordered into the incident.
Kerala Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan on Thursday said the rescue mission in the landslide-hit Mundakkai region of Wayanad could take a few more days, and appointed a cabinet sub-committee of four ministers to coordinate the rescue efforts.
'Maharashtra is virtually in a debt trap.'
When the landslide hit, Sruthi's house was washed away, along with its inhabitants. She lost her entire family and some relatives. All she had left for a close confidante was her fiance Jenson. Days after the landslide and the loss of her family, Jenson died in a road accident that also left Sruthi with serious injuries. News of the accident and Sruthi's backdrop as the lone surviving member of a family wiped out in the July landslide, was picked up by the media, and people rushed to help.
With polls to elect the 18th Lok Sabha approaching, district poll panels are fixing the rates for expenses as part of the election expenditure monitoring process.
The Kathalguri Tea Estate in the Dooars, is now closed. Situated 40 km from Jalpaiguri, on the India-Bhutan border, it was a big garden with more than 1,200 acres of plantation and 1,479 workers. The annual output of the garden used to be 12 million kg of processed tea and sources in the Dooars Branch of the Indian Tea Association say it could have yielded up to 16 million kg of tea if it had been run properly..
'The aged with retina and finger print issues are not getting access to pension and ration.' 'If all becomes digital -- what'll happen to the poor?'
In the fifth of a six-part series on the impact of demonetisation, Avishek Rakshit senses a storm brewing over the 850-odd tea gardens in the north eastern state, which have a weekly and fortnightly payment cycle.
'Modi's image has no takers among the masses.'
Being a victim of recurring political unrest over three decades, low productivity and escalating production cost, the Darjeeling tea industry has not been in good financial health over a long time.
Mohammad Javed, one of the accused in the tailor Kanhaiya Lal murder case in Rajasthan's Udaipur in 2022, was on Thursday granted bail by the Rajasthan high court. Reacting to the development, former chief minister Ashok Gehlot alleged that the Bharatiya Janata Party used the case to gain electoral advantage, whereas BJP leader Rajendra Rathore said his party's government was committed to punishing the culprits behind the murder.
Those whose names were mentioned during Prime Minister Narendra Modi's Mann ki Baat radio broadcast, swacchagrahi or foot soldiers who have played a key role in cleanliness drives and women sarpanches (village heads) are also part of the list shared by the Union ministry of home affairs to be invited for the function.
The industry began to upgrade its practices even before the NGO alleged Indian tea contained harmful pesticides.
The CM also said that to prevent the sale of land from the indigenous communities like tribals and Adivasis to others in undivided Goalpara district, a strong law will be brought.
Seven out of eight women street vendors reported experiencing high blood pressure, while women in the middle age group raised concerns about delays in their menstrual cycles due to the extreme heat.
Tata Tea has started a fresh awareness campaign to allay workers' apprehensions about restructuring of North India Plantation Operations.
RSS-aligned Bharatiya Mazdoor Sangh (BMS) on Monday expressed disappointment over the government's budget proposals with regard to divestment and foreign direct investment, especially in the insurance sector. The BMS, however, lauded the government for its current efforts on the massive vaccination programme, a special scheme for tea workers in West Bengal and Assam, labour oriented push on infrastructure projects in construction sector and development of five major fishing harbours viz. Kochi, Chennai, Visakhapatnam, Paradip, and Petuaghat as hubs for economic activities etc. On other Budget proposals, it said in a statement that "mixing the beautiful concept of Aatmanirbhar Bharat with FDI and disinvestment in the Union Budget is disappointing for the employees".
The sorry tale of how the operating managing committees, the state-supported worker committees who were to manage tea estates in West Bengal after their exhausted owners gave up and instead ran these into the ground, while pocketing the money, has been reported in some detail. But, what of the body of workers themselves?
The demonstration was staged at the Alka Talkies Square in the city where the women lit the earthen stove fire using wood and kerosene and offered the tea without milk to the bystanders, even as party workers raised anti-government slogans denouncing the fuel price hike.
An increasing number of b-school graduates are exploring tea-based services and products for businesses and some of them have tasted success too.
Closure of tea plantations in West Bengal has taken a heavy toll on workers in the gardens.
For every pack of Mabroc Single Garden and Valley teas sold, the company will pledge a minimum of 1.5 US cents to a UN programme.
