-PTI   The Calcutta high court today refused to pass an interim order restraining the West Bengal government from distributing to farmers in Singur the land acquired earlier to set up Tata'a car Manufacturing unit. On Tata Motors's plea that an interim injunction be passed to restrain distribution of the land from tomorrow, Justice Saumitra Pal said in that case the company's original petition challenging the Singur Land Rehablitation and Development Act,...

The strike at the Maruti Suzuki plant shows workers’ rights is still a simmering issue Spanner In The...     * Labour disputes/strikes down from 250 in ’04-05 to under 100     * Strike by 3,000 Maruti workers found support from 65 unions across companies     * Trade unions assert workers’ right to form a union, or to decide which union to join     * Ashok Leyland, Hyundai, Honda Motorcycles, GM among those that have...

A thinking government, regional or central, would ensure sustainable wages for skilled artisans and help them market the handcrafted products, instead of letting them join the NREGS queue. The design and execution of the much-touted National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme (NREGS) are likely to leave a lasting impact on some areas of our economy. Surely, the prototype version did not foresee that it would act as a catalyst for changes that...

-PTI   A bill seeking to empower the West Bengal government to return land in Singur to farmers was today passed by the Assembly amidst a walkout by members of the Opposition Left parties. The Singur Land Rehabilitation and Development Bill, 2011, was passed by voice vote along with some amendments brought by the government. When the Bill was put to vote by Speaker Biman Bandopadhyay, the Left MLAs, who cited legal loopholes...

-The Telegraph   Excerpts from the draft of the Singur Land Rehabilitation and Development Bill, 2011, which was circulated among MLAs on Monday. Whereas it is expedient to provide for taking over of the land covered by the lease granted to Tata Motors Limited for the sole purpose of Small Car Manufacturing project and letters of allotment issued to the Vendors as recommended by Tata Motors Limited in view of non-commissioning and...