Small and medium enterprises (SMEs) have blamed the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (MNREGA) for shortage of labour, which has led to increase in input cost of the products and eating into profit margins. "Now a days there is scarcity of labourers by 25 to 30 percent in SMEs. There is a high percentage of unskilled labour, which forms the core of employee recruitment in the local small and...

The post office in Bihar's Siwan district HQ remained the richest post office for the third consecutive year, receiving the highest number of 35,600 international money orders via western union between April 1, 2010 and March 31, 2011. Gopalganj was a poor second, receiving 24,800 international money orders while Motihari with 21,000 and Darbhanga with 20,000 international money orders via western union remained at the third and fourth positions respectively. Patna...

The first results of Census 2011 put India's population at 1,210 million, indicating a demographic transition. CENSUS 2011 is the 15th one undertaken in India since 1872 and the seventh after the country attained Independence. While there have been stray historical references to population counts of one kind or another in earlier periods over much smaller territories within the territory that constitutes present-day India, the consensus view is that the...

Six items prioritised for Prajapatham The State Cabinet has identified six priorities for this year's Prajapatham mass-contact programme proposed to be held from May first week to solve the people's identified problems. They are drinking water supply and sanitation; implementation of National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme (NREGS) with emphasis on arresting MIgration of labour; social security benefits like pensions and ration cards; disbursement of arrears to self-help groups under Pavala Vaddi...

“Quartz grinding is one of the deadliest occupations” “Slowly, but surely, every one of us who has been to the factories in Gujarat will die, and there is nothing we can do to change that,” Buddha (45) of Undli village says bitterly. Buddha lost his 18-year-old-son Mohan to acute silicosis a year ago. His 16-year-old daughter Ghamma is still suffering from the disease. Silicosis, the deadly scourge unleashed upon migrant labourers of...