The National Advisory Council (nac) headed by Sonia Gandhi has endorsed the proposal of the Central Employment Guarantee Council (CEGC) that the Minimum Wages Act be adhered to even for workers under MGNREGA. The nac endorsement came on Saturday during its meeting in New Delhi. Earlier on Saturday, during a meeting of the sub-group of the CEGC, attended by representatives from about six states, the issue of minimum wages being paid...

In its final recommendations on the proposed Food Security Act, the Sonia Gandhi-led National Advisory Council finally has acknowledged the twin constraints of the budget and the availability of foodgrains by stopping short of “universalisation” of a government-guaranteed right to subsidised food. Given the nac’s composition and remit, its recommendation is likely to influence the final draft. The nac still leans in favour of spreading the targeting net too wide, and...

The Sonia Gandhi-led National Advisory Council (nac) on Saturday urged the Centre to coordinate with all State and local governments and also Central government departments, including the Railways, to ensure that the pernicious practice of manual scavenging is fully abolished the latest by the end of the 11th Plan period. This, it said, would require a new survey in every State and Union Territory, with wide public involvement, of the remaining...

In its zeal to make low-priced food available to as many as possible, the majority on the National Advisory Council may deal a mortal blow to farmers and output, warn farmer groups. The proposal to distribute low-priced foodgrain to 80 per cent of the rural population has nothing in it to incentivise cultivation. Vijay Jawandhia of the Shetkari Sangathana says the least the nac could have done was to recommend that...

The recommendation of the National Advisory Council (nac), that the proposed food security bill should include 75% of the population, is populist. The measure, if implemented, will entitle nearly 800 million people to some kind of subsidised food. It will drive a big hole in the budget, which finance minister Pranab Mukherjee has tried hard to rebuild after the spending excesses of 2007-09. This is not to say that the poor...