The proposal that the poor be given direct cash subsidy under the food security law when grain is not available may not go through with many members of the Sonia Gandhi-led National Advisory Council (NAC) denouncing the move. Top sources confirmed that the Planning Commission's suggestion did not find favour with some members of the council who argued that a push should be given to "more government procurement" and overhauling the...

At a time political trade unions are struggling to get a foothold in the country’s mammoth unorganised sector, there’s a new entrant in the field: the Catholic Church. The Catholic Bishops’ Conference of India (CBCI) has launched a national labour union, the Workers’ India Federation (WIF), focusing on “unorganised” workers. The motto of the union, formed after a three-day workshop in Bangalore in May, is: “Secure Worker, Strong Nation.’’ The union is...

Even as the department of civil supplies and consumer affairs conducts consumer rights’ awareness events in rural areas periodically, lack of councils and laboratory facilities are dampening consumer activism in Goa, say consumer rights’ experts. They point out that both district consumer courts, set up under the justice redressal system of the Consumer Protection Act (CPA), 1986 are in urban areas. This makes it difficult for rural consumers to approach...

Regular helpings of fruit are a dietary given, but increasing use of harmful chemicals for artificially ripening has often left buyers helpless. The Union health ministry has now stepped in, deciding to punish guilty vendors with up to six months in jail and fine of Rs 1,000. Vendors often resort to use of chemicals such as calcium carbide to ripen fruits, specially mangoes, bananas, papayas, apples and plums before time....

While India’s new Right to Education Act seeks to bring free and compulsory education for all children, it seems to short-change them through an unrealistic vision of the private sector’s involvement. In August 2009, the Right to Education Act was passed in the Indian Parliament with no debate, by the fewer than 60 members who happened to be attending the session that day. Not that the Act was an open-and-shut...