India politicians vow to pay women for housework as virus rages newsindiatimes.com - get the latest breaking news, showbiz & celebrity photos, sport news & rumours, viral videos and top stories from newsindiatimes.com Daily Mail and Mail on Sunday newspapers.
Apr 27, 2021
As India battles the world’s worst virus outbreak, some key political parties are promising an unprecedented monthly payment to all homemakers in a bid to win crucial state elections.
If enacted, the stipends would be some of the first in the world to specifically address women’s unpaid labor, which economists estimate accounts for up to 39% of global gross domestic product and is often absent from official statistics. They would also represent a major cultural shake-up in a nation where women are overwhelmed with domestic duties and their participation in the workforce is among the lowest on the planet a predicament exacerbated by COVID-19.
A Fierce Election Tests Modiâs Campaign to Remake India
The prime ministerâs party is vying to dethrone a powerful politician in West Bengal. Even a close race could demonstrate the growing reach of his Hindu nationalist movement.
A rally for the Trinamool Congress party in Nandigram, India, last month. Trinamool is trying to fend off a challenge from the party of Prime Minister Narendra Modi in the eastern Indian state of West Bengal.Credit.Saumya Khandelwal for The New York Times
April 7, 2021Updated 11:39 a.m. ET
NANDIGRAM, India â The challenger arrived with police vehicles, a band of drummers and the backing of the countryâs powerful prime minister. The crowd joined him in full-throated chants of glory to the Hindu god Ram: âJai Shree Ram!â He brought a warning: If Hindus did not unite around him, even their most basic religious practices would be in danger in the face of Muslim appeasement.
PM, Mamta Banerjee at Exchange rallies in Bengal Exchange Bar - Naveen Bharat : Read Today's Truth News Headlines, Get Breaking News, Latest News, India News, World News
PEOPLE stand in queues to cast their votes at a polling booth in Nandigram during the second phase of elections for West Bengal’s assembly. AP
NANDIGRAM: Two people died as an Indian state notorious for political violence went to the polls on Thursday with Prime Minister Narendra Modi battling to oust a bitter rival from power.
Clashes were reported across West Bengal and election officials said that voters were being “intimidated” on the second day of polling in the key state.
Modi’s Hindu-nationalist Bharatiya Janata Party is seeking to end a decade of rule by the state’s firebrand leader Mamata Banerjee.