-The Times of India Team Anna's latest spectacle is beset by many contradictions That Team Anna's anti-corruption protests still manage to draw crowds attests to the extent of the popular anger against official corruption. Anna Hazare, by embarking on an indefinite fast - his fourth since last April - hopes to recapture the vigour of earlier phases of the civil society movement led by him. But that is easier said than done. As...

-The Business Standard Hiring contract labour must come with more commitments Almost a third of India’s organised labour force is on contract. This is an inevitable consequence of archaic labour laws that make it impossible for India Inc to disengage permanent workers even if they can’t afford them, don’t need them or they don’t perform. Companies such as Maruti Suzuki India have thus used contract workers liberally — almost half the workers...

-The Hindu “Study these four men washing down the steps of this unpalatable Bombay hotel. The first pours water from a bucket, the second scratches the tiles with a twig broom, the third uses a rag to slop the dirty water down the steps into another bucket, which is held by the fourth. After they have passed, the steps are as dirty as before… They are not required to clean,” but...

-The Hindustan Times In June 1992, Manmohan Singh, then finance minister in the Government of India, delivered the Foundation Day Address of the Society for Promotion of Wastelands Development (SPWD). He spoke on the topic ‘Environment and the New Economic Policies’. In his talk, Singh urged “objective standards industry-wise for safeguarding the environment, asking industry to certify compliance with these standards, institution of an effective system of verification and industry audit...

-The Times of India GUWAHATI: The death toll in the ongoing ethnic clash between Bodo and Bengali speaking Muslims in the Bodo heartland in Kokrajhar district since Friday, rose to 20 as additional central paramilitary forces from different parts of the country are on their way to the troubled area. Over 50, 000 people belonging to both the communities have been affected in the spate of violence so far. The population of...