The much-awaited Bill on sexual harassment at workplaces gets the Cabinet nod for presentation in Parliament. ON November 4, the Union Cabinet gave the go-ahead for the enactment of a law on protection of women from sexual harassment at the workplace. Titled Protection of Women against Sexual Harassment at Workplace Bill, 2010, the draft law is basically a new avatar of the ones prepared in 2004. This development has been...

The Prime Minister’s Office is expected to have a tough time making up its mind on the right wages for workers under the National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (NREGA). For, the labour and rural development ministries have taken different positions on the matter. A labour ministry note sent to the rural development ministry (MoRD) says the minimum wage notified in each state — often higher than the NREGA set one —...

For past several weeks, thousands of farmers in Madhya Pradesh, Uttar Pradesh, Chhatisgarh, Rajasthan, Bihar and Jharkhand have been left in the lurch. They had planted urd and til crops in a large acreage, and to their dismay no grain formation took place in the standing crop. Unable to bear the economic loss, at least four farmers have reportedly committed suicide. Thousands of farmers have been pushed deeper into economic distress....

Frequent and unrelenting protests against land acquisition seem to have compelled political parties to take the issue seriously. The Centre has promised to introduce a redrafted land acquisition Bill during the winter session of Parliament. As per official pronouncements, the Bill will provide for higher compensation to the affected parties. Besides, acquisition for private companies will be restricted to less than 30% of the total land required for the project. However,...

In a bid to stall the contentious Land Acquisition (Amendment) Bill, the Trinamool Congress has demanded a detailed discussion in the Lok Sabha before the legislation and the accompanying Resettlement and Rehabilitation Bill are taken up for consideration in the winter session. The Trinamool Congress, which has expressed major reservations on the Land Acquisition (Amendment) Bill, put forward this demand at a meeting of Lok Sabha Business Advisory Committee (BAC) on...