-The Economic Times Nearly 6 crore formal sector employees could look forward to retiring with a minimum pension of Rs 1,000 a month, in addition to their provident fund savings, if the finance ministry green signals a labour ministry proposal to increase the pension of PF subscribers.   At present, most provident fund subscribers receive less than Rs 500 a month as pension after decades of service, with some getting as low as...

-Pratirodh Bureau Activists led by Narmada Bachao Andolan leader Medha Patkar have alleged that the much awaited Land Acquisition Bill was actually a "diluted version" of the Standing Committee's recommended bill.   The activists under belonging to various groups, including National Alliance of People’s Movements, National Forum of Forest people and Forest Workers, Kisan Sangharsh Samiti and Sangharsh claimed that the "positive" position taken by the Standing Committee had been diluted by the...

-Tehelka Are we eating sugar which small kids are producing as bonded labour? FOURTEEN-YEAR-OLD Mahendra Singh used to live with his parents and two siblings in the Jahangirpuri slum area of New Delhi until the morning he was abducted, trafficked and then callously ‘sold’ to a sugarcane farmer of Haryana’s Karnal district. Mahendra was made to work as a bonded labourer in the sugarcane fields for three-and-a-half long years, until he finally...

-Open the Magazine It was good, it was brief There is a type of talented Indian who lives in the United States with his austere wife to whom he lost his virginity, and has two children who are good at spelling. He walks with a mild slouch. He is still intimidated by White waiters, but not Black waiters. In an elevator, chiefly in an elevator, he suspects he is probably small. He...

-The Hindu If India were to relax visa restrictions and allow open immigration, Pakistan could witness the largest exodus of minorities since 1947, especially from the remote areas of Sindh, Balochistan and other disturbed areas where kidnappings, forcible conversions, marriages of minor girls, ransacking of residences, robbing of commercial establishments and religious persecution continues unabated. The state apparatus is either non-existent or a mute spectator. This opinion was voiced by an overwhelming...