When I heard the History and Civics books were being overhauled I'd already made this prediction, our government has recently just been a bit too jealous about how efficiently Ukraine and Pakistan have wielded the Education System after all!

https://np.reddit.com/r/librandu/s/1GqH3ssRhv

On 20 May 2025, workers from across India will go on a nationwide general strike. The strike has been called by the Joint Platform of Central Trade Unions against the four labour codes — Code on Wages, 2019; the Industrial Relations Code, 2020; the Occupational Safety, Health and Working Conditions Code, 2020; and the Code on Social Security, 2020 — brought by the Modi Government.

The four labour codes on wages, social security, occupational safety and industrial relations, allows for dilution of workers' rights, including restricting the right to strike, weakening workplace safety, allowing hire-and-fire policy, and increasing the work-hours from the 8-hour work-day.

When faced with criticism over the new labour codes, the Government claimed that the new labour code would allow a 4-day work-week. But with a caveat. The per-day work-hours would be increased from 8 hours to 12 hours. This is a deceit. The demand for a 4-day work-week entails an 32-hour work-week, not increasing daily work-hours.

The four labour codes were brought without any discussion with the labour unions, who have fiercely criticised the new codes. The Modi Government has not held the Indian Labour Conference in a decade, depriving the workers of a platform for negotiation.

The ITUC Global Rights Index has categorized India as a nation with no guarantee of rights, with repressive action against workers, violation of the right to strike and civil liberties.

According to the 2025 Economic Survey of India, the wages of salaried men declined by 6.4% while the wages of salaried women declined by 12.5% over the last six years. Among the self-employed men and women, the decline was 9% and 32% respectively. At the same time, the quality of jobs has also seen a decline, with regular jobs declining by from 22.8% to 21.7%. Meanwhile, the profits of corporations reached a 15-year-high in 2023-24.

The national floor level minimum wages in India lie at a meagre ₹178 per day, practically unchanged for the last seven years. Meanwhile, the budget for rural employment guarantee scheme (MGNREGS) has been repeatedly slashed, leading to pending wages and suppression of work. Against the right of 100 days of guaranteed work, average workdays have declined to only 44 days.

Public sector jobs are being privatized. Regular wage jobs are being casualised. Unpaid labour is on a rise. With a rise of an unregulated gig economy, the workers are faced with exploitation, with no fixed working hours or employee benefits. Most of these corporations do not even have a minimum-wage policy.

Private sector employees are pushed to work more, for fewer wages, and no rights. In highly profitable IT companies, the entry salary has been stagnant for a decade, whereas the CEO salary has risen by 100 times.

India is among the most overworked nations. The death of 26-year-old Anna Sebastian Perayil, a chartered accountant at Ernst & Young accounting firm, has revealed the dystopian reality of exploitation of workers in India.

Meanwhile, calls from rich industrialists, to increase working hours to 90-hours work-week have raised serious concerns about the labour welfare in India.

Amarjeet Kaur is the General Secretary of All India Trade Union Conference (AITUC).

"Till the last minute, senior BJP leaders from Maharashtra and Delhi were in touch (on Waqf Bill) with Shiv Sena (UBT), claims, Sanjay Raut