The National Advisory Council has suggested amendments to the Protection of Women against Sexual Harassment at Workplace Bill, 2010, and to the Scheduled Tribes and Other Traditional Forest Dwellers (Recognition of Forest Rights) Rules. It is also awaiting the comments of the Department of Personnel and Training (DOPT) to its suggestions on the new Right to Information Rules. Finally, in a bid to strengthen the Integrated Child Development Services (ICDS),...

The National Advisory Council, headed by Sonia Gandhi, today disapproved the exclusion of domestic workers from the purview of a proposed law for protection of women against sexual harassment at workplaces. The bill, introduced in the Lok Sabha during the winter session, aims to prevent harassment of women at the workplace by implied or overt promise of preferential treatment or threat or interference in work through intimidation. The nac, which discussed the...

Sonia Gandhi-led National Advisory Council (nac) has reached a consensus on the final framework of the draft Food Security Bill that aimed to make legal entitlement of foodgrains to the poor. "We have reached a consensus on the final framework of the Food Security Bill," an nac member said on condition of anonymity. The draft Bill is expected to be made public within 10 days. The nac discussed its earlier recommendation of...

When Manmohan Singh wrote to the Sonia Gandhi-led nac on December 31, rejecting its recommendations to increase minimum wages paid under the NREGS, he had referred to a “consensual view” that emerged from ministries involved. Gandhi had written to the PM in November that workers under NREGS were being paid less than the minimum wage  in some states. “This is a totally unacceptable situation and needs to be corrected at...

So why is the UPA hell-bent on killing its unique success story: the NREGA? Here's the inside narrative of the conspiracy. It took 47 days of a protest sit-in at Jaipur to make the state budge(1). It's notable that the objective of this protracted protest was not to coerce the Rajasthan government for an extra share of the state's resources, but to hold the government accountable to the Constitution and its...