At the instance of the Supreme Court, the Union government has initiated steps for an out-of-the-court settlement of the controversy arising from non-payment of minimum wages to MGNREGS workers. While admitting the Centre's special leave petition challenging the Karnataka High Court ruling in September for payment of minimum wages to workers under the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme along with arrears, the Supreme Court, however, refused to stay...

A woman prisoner has sought the Supreme Court's intervention in getting her the wages for the work she was made to do inside the Tihar Jail for nearly four years while serving sentence after being convicted in a criminal case. Phool Kumari was convicted in a criminal case and sentenced to 10 years imprisonment by a Delhi court. On appeal, the apex court had reduced the sentence to a five-year jail...

 It was UPA 1's winning mantra. But the Rs 33,000 crore a year rural job guarantee scheme may be floundering with the government admitting the flagship programme suffers from delayed payments, poor awareness, lack of durable assets, faulty job cards and muster rolls.  The finance ministry has echoed some of the major criticisms of the Mahatma GandhiNational Rural Employment Guarantee Actlisting endemic "lack of awareness about rights and entitlements" and inability...

-The Times of India It was UPA 1's winning mantra. But the Rs 33,000 crore a year rural job guarantee scheme may be floundering with the government admitting the flagship programme suffers from delayed payments, poor awareness, lack of durable assets, faulty job cards and muster rolls. The finance ministry has echoed some of the major criticisms of the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act listing endemic "lack of awareness about...

-IANS The Mamata Banerjee-led West Bengal government will soon move the central government to increase Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (MGNREGA) wages to Rs.200 from Rs.136. Unhappy with the central government hiking the wage for the 100-day rural job guarantee programme from Rs.130 to Rs.136 in the state, West Bengal's ruling Trinamool Congress is planning to take up the issue with New Delhi. "We will soon demand that the central government...