It was one comment from finance minister Pranab Mukherjee that almost blunted Left's persuasive arguments for increasing the minimum wages under the National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme during the Question Hour in Rajya Sabha on Tuesday. As Mukherjee was explaining how the scheme had increased the purchasing power of the people and said that the wage approved by the Parliament was Rs 100, Brinda Karat of CPM intervened to say...

The Government has revised the wages for unskilled manual workers under the national rural employment guarantee scheme by indexing it to inflation, Rural Development Minister Vilasrao Deshmukh said today. He told the Rajya Sabha during Question Hour that the original National Rural Employment Guarantee Act provides for wages to be indexed to the Consumer Price Index for agricultural labour. Against the Rs 100 per day wages originally approved, actual wages given are...

The Bhopal Memorial Hospital and Research Centre (BMHRC) has pocketed over Rs 1 crore by allowing pharma companies to conduct clinical trials of drugs on its patients — victims of the gas disaster of 1984. Shockingly, out of the 7 trials carried out in the hospital since 2004, only one was inspected or monitored by the government watchdog Drug Controller General of India (DCGI). This was revealed in response to...

Demand stronger policies and end to disinvestment of public sector A “Workers' March to Parliament” in the Capital on Wednesday saw a heavy turnout of workers of various central trade unions protesting against price rise, unemployment, labour law violations and disinvestment. The participating organisations included the Centre of Indian Trade Unions, the Indian National Trade Union Congress, the All-India Trade Union Congress (AITUC), the Hind Mazdoor Sabha, the All-India United Trade...

Said it failed to state ethical aspects involved in the study Proposal was based on the assumption that vaccine was safe and efficacious: PHFI Brinda demands compensation for all subjects victimised by vaccine programme The proposal for conducting the now controversial “Post-licensure observational study of Human Papilloma Virus (HPV) vaccination: Demonstration Project,” carried out by a non-governmental organisation PATH for two major pharmaceutical companies, had been turned down by the Public Health Foundation...