-PTI For violating the agreement signed by the workers with the company management on Oct. 1 Cracking the whip, Maruti Suzuki India on Sunday dismissed 10 workers, terminated five trainees and suspended 10 employees in connection “with the strike and violence at the Manesar factory premises”. In a statement, the company said the strike by the workers and the violence thereafter violated the agreement signed by the workers with the company management...

After a 33-day standoff between the workers at Maruti Suzuki India’s Manesar facility and the management, the company on Saturday said that a common ground has been reached and agitating workers would resume work on Monday. The stir finally ended on Saturday morning after a meeting between the agitating workers, government and the company management, where workers agreed to sign the ‘good conduct bond’ and a commitment that production would not...

-The Economic Times   India's new mining Bill has provisions which seek, rightly, to shovel money from mining companies to rural people affected by mining, but the devil could lie in the detail. The proposal has three defects. One, it seeks differential treatment for coal and other minerals - coal miners would share 26% of their profits, while miners of other minerals would give additional royalty payments. Pray, why? Two, it exempts...

The Jharkhand state MGNREGA council has increased the honorarium to nearly 6,000 contract employees working for implementation of the central scheme, putting an additional burden of over Rs 1 crore on the state exchequer. However, the government said the extra load would be borne by the central share of funds. The proposal of the rural development department was approved by the state council in its third meeting here on Tuesday. The...

The Planning Commission has proposed the introduction of a state-funded health insurance programme by 2017 to cover every citizen of the country. The panel has suggested that the government formulate financial incentives for beneficiaries of the insurance programme as well as their employers to encourage them to participate in the plan. “The 12th Plan (2012-17) will explore the possibilities of introducing a government-funded health insurance plan for every citizen along the lines...