-Tehelka Agrarian policies are proving to be an albatross around the neck of ordinary farmers Amon Singh Kevat, 70, a small farmer in Vidisha, Madhya Pradesh, spent three long days in April waiting for his harvest to be picked up from an open plot that served as a mandi (procurement centre for agricultural produce). In need of money for a marriage in the family, Kevat didn’t even go home for meals. But...

-Business Standard According to a proposal by the Union labour ministry, 10 per cent of the employees or 100 workers will be needed at least to form a trade union Barely a week after trade unions across the country celebrate the Labour Day, the National Democratic Alliance government will meet workers' and industry representatives on May 6 to discuss proposals to make forming unions tougher and union activities more rule-bound. The proposals to...

-Livemint.com While economists disagree on the extent of rigidity in India’s labour regime, there is a broad consensus on the need to simplify labour Laws After showing a sense of urgency initially, the Modi government seemed to have put labour law reforms on the backburner in between. Now, things are simmering once again as the government contemplates integrating three Laws—the Trade Unions Act, the Industrial Disputes Act and the Industrial Employment...

-IANS Corporates owed over Rs.4.85 lakh crore to the government as outstanding dues under direct and indirect taxes towards the end of the last fiscal, parliament was told on Tuesday. "The total outstanding tax demand pending collection under the head corporate tax under the Direct Tax Laws as on February 28 is over Rs.3.20 lakh crore," Minister of State for Finance Jayant Sinha told the Rajya Sabha in a written reply. As on...

-AP An earthquake had long been feared, not just because of the natural seismic fault, but because of the local, more human conditions that made it worse. Nepal’s devastating earthquake was the disaster experts knew was coming. Just a week ago, about 50 earthquake and social scientists from around the world had come to Kathmandu to get the area to prepare better for a big earthquake. “It was sort of a nightmare waiting to...