-The Telegraph Women workers employed in central government industrial units can now take leave for up to two years to look after their kids. A circular issued by the ministry of personnel and training on August 1 has put women workers at these units on a par with their counterparts at industrial defence establishments, at least as far as getting time off for childcare is concerned. Last year, the Sixth Pay Commission had...

-The Times of India A middleclass dream that politics can be redeemed by means other than politics has just ended, with Team Anna’s decision to launch a political party and join the fray. Many of his ardent supporters and well-wishers have registered deep disappointment. Anna is becoming part of the problem, they cry. The problem was with the hope that gods out of the machine can serve up deliverance on a...

-The Hindu Rajesh Khanna may have immortalised a few lines that are easily recalled by everyone — “Pushpa, I hate tears” — but he will certainly not be remembered for his political speeches. Yet, one particular speech stands out in my memory. It was reported in the papers and it has stayed in my memory even though years have passed. In the speech, made in Calcutta during the 1989 general elections when...

-The Times of India GURGAON: Over 2,000 employees, from top honchos to the workers, posted at the violence-hit Manesar plant of Maruti Suzuki India, will not get their salaries on Wednesday (August 1). Confirming the move, Maruti's chief operating officer (administration), S Y Siddiqui, said: "No one working at the Manesar plant will be given salary. According to the rule, after the company's lockout, workers are not paid till the time it...

-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...