Jet Airways employees continue strike

As uncertainty continues over the fate of the shuttered Jet Airways, an employees’ consortium has proposed to take over the airline with at least ₹3,000 crore expected from outside investors for the bid, according to two staff unions.

This is the first time that employees have come together with a proposal to run the more than 25-year-old Jet Airways, which temporarily suspended operations on April 17.

Two associations representing pilots and engineers — SWIP and JAMEVA — have written to State Bank of India (SBI) Chairman Rajnish Kumar proposing that they would like to take over the airline and can bring in up to ₹7,000 crore.

May Day observed

Workers load fertilizer bags on a truck, on the eve of Labour Day also known as May Day, in Amritsar   | Photo Credit: PTI

May 1 is a metonym for International Workers Day, a day of celebration of the working class. Behind it lies a history dating back over one-and-a-half centuries.  The roots of May 1 can be traced to the second part of the 19th century when there were revolutions, and organisations behind which industrial workers rallied.

In India, the first Labour Day, or May Day, was celebrated in 1923 in Chennai. Today around India, organisations and trade unions arrange pageants, children enter contests so they can understand the importance of fairness for workers, and political leaders make speeches.

New imperial era in Japan

Japan's Emperor Naruhito and Empress Masako leave a ceremony called Sokui-go-Choken-no-gi, his first audience after the accession to the throne , at the Imperial Palace in Tokyo   | Photo Credit: Reuters

 

Japan welcomed the start of a new Reiwa imperial era and a new emperor on Wednesday in a festive New Year mood, with hopes for peace and prosperity.

Emperor Naruhito (59) was formally invested on Wednesday after his father, Akihito, 85, stepped down the day before.

Akihito, the first Japanese monarch to abdicate in two centuries, became an active symbol of peace, reconciliation and democracy during his three-decade Heisei era. Many expect Naruhito to follow that model, but with his own style.