Tickets not available, migrant labour can’t reach workplaces

The unavailability of train tickets is preventing construction workers from going back to their workplaces.  Arpan Roy, a civil contractor from West Bengal, informed The Observer: “Site managers are calling now and then, but the unavailability of tickets is making it difficult for labourers to travel.” Along with his 30 workers, Roy returned home in […]

Continue Reading

Travel curbs squeeze the tourism industry

 Tour operators and guides are struggling to make ends meet because of pandemic-induced international travel restrictions. With no assistance for them in the economic stimulus package, they want the government to resume issuing tourist visas. “Covid-19 has affected the travel industry the most. It has sent us five years back (economically). Millions of lives have […]

Continue Reading

Pandemic takes a toll on rural education

The shutdown of schools due to the Covid pandemic has adversely impacted the students of rural Bengal. Students from villages do not have access to smartphones or laptops at home, leaving them at a disadvantage during online learning. They have depended solely on schools for education, but since the lockdown was imposed, they have lost […]

Continue Reading