-The Telegraph Ranchi: The state brass today urged Jairam Ramesh to increase the wages under the Centre's flagship Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme (MGNREGS). The demand was placed before the Union rural development minister, who was on a daylong visit to Ranchi, at a review meeting of rural projects at Sri Krishna Sinha Institute of Public Administration (SKIPA). "We have requested the Union minister to increase the daily wages for MGNREGS...

-The Hindu   They had sought inter alia universal social security cover for both organised and unorganised sectors Prime Minister Manmohan Singh on Friday said some of the demands raised by the various central trade unions, for which they organised a nationwide general strike for two days in February, were in advanced stage of consideration of the government. Those demands include universal social security cover for workers in both organised and unorganised sectors and...

-The Economic Times Arvind Panagariya, a professor of Indian economics at Columbia University, hits out at Nobel laureate and Harvard University professor Amartya Sen over his call to confront MPs with the "number of deaths" a delayed Food Security Bill can cause. The former chief economist at the Asian Development Bank counters Sen's argument that it is high social spending that has contributed to the economic growth of Asian economies such...

-BBC Many Bangladeshi textile factories near the capital, Dhaka, have shut because of unrest sparked by the collapse of a factory building last month, the country's textile association has said. Owners made the decision on safety grounds after many workers went on a rampage, the group's president said. Retailers in Europe meanwhile said they would sign an accord to improve safety conditions in factories in Bangladesh. At least 1,127 people were killed when the...

-The Times of India NEW DELHI: The UPA is strenuously denying that this campaign is its earthy version of the NDA's "India Shining" campaign, but few are buying the denials. Launched as a "multi-media" campaign to highlight its achievements in two successive terms at the Center, it has been christened by political observers are UPA's " Bharat Smiling" campaign. The spirit of the campaign, says the publicity material given out by the...