The annual report of the International Institute for Labour Studies projects a grim future for employment prospects. WITH the United States and much of Europe grappling with the slowdown in their economies and the resultant social unrest, the publication of the World of Work Report 2011: Making Markets Work for Jobs could not have come at a more opportune moment. Brought out by the International Institute for Labour Studies, which was...

Government proposes to provide basic insurance coverage to an estimated 43 crore unorganized workers Furthering the United Progressive Alliance (UPA) government’s objective of inclusive growth, the National Advisory Council (NAC) headed by Congress president Sonia Gandhi will discuss ways of bringing India’s unorganized workers under the social security net in its meeting on 29 November. A new NAC working group on social security is working on draft recommendations that will seek to...

As in most social sector indicators, Kerala tops the national child rights index, followed by Karnataka. Arunachal Pradesh is the worst performer in protecting the rights of children. Strangely, Kerala's child marriage indicator is the lowest, and the State's performance is far from satisfactory in early childhood care and crimes against children. One point that stands out in the indexing — the first of its kind in the country — is that...

India's cabinet has approved a major new policy to develop national manufacturing. The policy aims to create a 100 million jobs in the next 10 years and allows for a series of special new zones to support manufacturing growth. At the moment, that sector only accounts for about 16% of the country's gross domestic product. That has barely changed in the last three decades and is seen as well below India's potential. It is...

-The Hindu   “Allowing oil firms to control market will hurt economy”   De-regulation by which the three public sector oil companies are empowered to set the price of petrol and other petroleum products has been challenged in a public interest litigation petition in the Supreme Court. The All India Youth Federation (AIYF), represented by its general secretary P. Sandoshkumar, said there was no rationale behind replacing the Administered Pricing Mechanism (APM) with the Import...