Even as the Left Front government in Bengal have pledged itself to champion the cause of labourers in the country, the number of companies in the state who deny minimum wages to its workers has increased manifold in the last few years. In 2006, 61 companies were fined for denying minimum wages to its workers which came down to 42 in 2007. But again in 2008 the number increased to 223...

Commonwealth Organising Committee chief Suresh Kalmdi was today questioned by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) in connection with alleged financial irregularities in the conduct of the sports event. According to sources, the questioning is about alleged irregularities in the Queen Baton's Relay held in London last year besides certain contracts awarded to various firms totalling several hundred crores. The CBI summons to Kalmadi follows the interrogation of his key aide Lalit...

Once the unique identification (UID) project is fully launched, it will also serve as the number to track PF accounts of individuals. Most importantly , this number will not only help in online checking of the status of the account but also to ensure a smooth transfer once a person changes jobs. Labour secretary P C Chaturvedi says this will happen in the second phase of digitization of EPFO but the...

The retirement fund manager EPFO plans to replace PF account number with unique identification number, a move which will help in speedy transfer of a subscribers' funds in case of job change and allow them to track their accounts online. At present when a subscriber changes job, it takes months to transfer provident fund money from one account to another, as the records are required to be transferred from one office...

Krishi Bhavan supports endosulfan companies; Kerala protests THE timing and the message of the conference could not have been more stark. At a time when the endosulfan problem is in the limelight, sparking calls for a nationwide ban on the pesticide, its manufacturers staged a remarkable feat. They held a three-day conference on rural prosperity at Delhi’s Vigyan Bhavan, venue for high-power official meetings, and put across the message that the hazardous...