'Food subsidy is a massive burden…if so much is spent on subsidies, what is left for development?' agriculture minister Sharad Pawar recently asked. It is a legitimate question that is on the minds of many but seldom gets asked for fear of appearing callous. Are we prematurely trying to be a welfare State? In the developed world, safety nets like food stamps are regarded as humanitarian obligations toward the poor....
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Tweaking rural jobs scheme
-The Hindu Business Line The Rural Development Minister, Mr Jairam Ramesh's proposal to amend the law on minimum wages to permit a lower wage for employment under the rural jobs scheme (Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act or MGNREGA) makes practical sense. The Karnataka High Court ruled recently that wages set under MGNREGA cannot be independent of the MWA. Effectively, it means there can be no such thing as an...
More »Bihar's economic growth causing labour shortages, higher wage bills in other parts of India by Ravi Teja Sharma
Bihar's recent economic growth has created a peculiar problem for real estate and infrastructure firms in other parts of the country. Migrant labour from the state constitutes around 50% of the unskilled workers employed in these sectors nationally, but increased government expenditure and private investment has caused rural migration from Bihar to fall by a third in recent years, resulting in labour shortages and 35-50% higher wage bills for real estate...
More »Kudankulam protesters nominate 2 members for expert panel
-PTI Making some headway towards resolution of the Kudankulam issue, anti-plant protesters on Tuesday decided to nominate two of their members in the expert committee to be set up by the Tamil Nadu government. The protesters, however, made it clear that they would not hold talks with the 15-member committee set up by the Centre till the work at the Kudankulam Nuclear Power Plant (KNPP) was stopped. S.P. Udhayakumar, the movement’s leader, told...
More »Jairam Ramesh writes to PM to resolve conflict between NREGS & minimum wages by Urmi A Goswami
The Centre may create a new category under the Minimum Wages Act, 1948 for resolving the conflict with the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act, 2005 in implementaing wages rates. At present, wages under MGNREGA is linked to the consumer price index. However, it is less than the notified minimum wages for agricultural labour in six states-Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka, Kerala, Goa, Mizoram and Rajasthan. The rural development ministry has...
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