-Frontline Maharashtra’s sugarcane farmers are a worried lot as the State government backs out from the sugar pricing process.  Sangli & Kolhapur: KOLHAPUR and Sangli districts in Maharashtra form the heartland of Indian sugar industry. This time of year is generally the busiest, with itinerant labourers cutting sugarcane and loading it on to tractors that roar off to the more than 20 sugar factories in the two districts. In November and December,...

-The Hindu Allotted fake Provident Fund accounts by contractors Workers hired through multiple contractors by the Delhi Metro Rail Corporation (DMRC) here have alleged that companies have been denying them their minimum wages and have allotted fake Provident Fund and health insurance accounts to siphon off their money. Questioned about this, officials said that while they were aware of the workers’ complaints, they had not yet blacklisted any company, despite the fact that...

-The Business Standard Cabinet decisions on fertiliser are not enough Of the two fertiliser-related decisions taken by the Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs at its recent meeting, the token hike of Rs 50 per tonne in urea prices is inconsequential, and the new mechanism for subsidising fertiliser is problematic. An increase of less than one per cent in urea prices will do little to bring down the subsidy bill or to reduce...

-NDTV The Union Cabinet is expected to meet this evening to consider a 7 per cent hike in the Dearness Allowance (DA) of Central government employees. Once approved, it will benefit over 52 lakh government employees. The Cabinet will also take a decision on computerisation of the Public Distribution System (PDS). A Food Ministry proposal seeks to digitise ration cards and fully computerise the PDS network especially at the back-end. Also, a bailout package...

-Express India Acting on a public interest litigation (PIL) on August 14, the Gujarat High Court (HC) directed the state government to appoint two more information commissioners (IC) at the office of the state Chief Information Commissioner (CIC) to clear the piling-up secondary appeals and complaints under the Right to Information Act (RTI). This was not for the first time the HC ordered the state government to fill the vacant posts at...