Union Rural Development Minister C.P. Joshi on Friday maintained that the Centre was set to increase the wage rate paid under the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme (MNREGS), but it was for Prime Minister Manmohan Singh to address the issues raised by UPA chairperson Sonia Gandhi. Dr. Joshi said it was not for him to react to the recommendation made to Dr. Singh by Ms. Gandhi — in her...
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Child labour, still a common practice in large parts of rural India by Bidisha Fouzdar
In a small pastoral vand (hamlet) in Kutch, Gujarat, 10 year old Ramu wakes up at five in the morning. His mother serves him a hasty breakfast of bajra rotis after which he is packed off to the pasturelands surrounding their small hamlet to graze the family's buffaloes. Since his village does not have a working school, grazing the livestock is gainful employment from the point of view of Ramu's...
More »In Rajasthan, MNREGS workers score a victory by Sunny Sebastian
After 47 days of their sit-in, government agrees to pay prevailing minimum wage From a black Diwali to a colourful Id! For hundreds of labourers who sat on dharna from October 2 near the Statue Circle here to press their demand for Minimum Wages under the MNREGS (Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme), it was celebration time on Wednesday. After 47 days of sit-in protest, which was preceded by a...
More »Rajasthan agrees to NREGA workers' demand
The Rajasthan government today said it would index the payment for work under the National Rural Employment Guarantee Act to the rate of inflation. This would be the first such move by any state since the Centre froze Minimum Wages for the scheme two years before, at Rs 100 a day. This is one of the conditions the government agreed to while arriving at a settlement with the Mazdoor Kisan Shakti...
More »NREGA wages: High Court raps governments
Comply with orders on Minimum Wages in two weeks, High Court tells State, Centre Justice N. Ramamohana Rao of the A.P. High Court on Tuesday gave two weeks to the State and Central governments to take steps to comply with the directions regarding payment of Minimum Wages to the workers engaged in NREGA works. Contempt case The judge was dealing with contempt case filed against Amita Shah, Joint Secretary, Union Ministry of Rural...
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