Rural Development Minister Jairam Ramesh is learnt to have reluctantly agreed to file an appeal against a Karnataka High Court verdict in September that NREGS wages cannot be fixed lower than what is prescribed under the Minimum Wages Act. For over a month, Ramesh was opposed to the idea of appealing against the ruling. Government sources told The Indian Express that the Rural Development Minister “agreed with protest” to appeal against...

Indian citizens won’t be shielded from prying by government agencies if the Union home ministry gets its way with the proposed privacy law. The ministry is insisting that intelligence and law enforcement agencies be kept out of the purview of the proposed Act, and allowed to continue monitoring the activities and carry out electronic surveillance of citizens, officials familiar with the situation said. The department of personnel and training (DoPT), which is...

-The Hindu   Governor H.R. Bhardwaj on Monday alleged that officers in the Lokayukta were being gradually transferred and old cases “whitewashed” taking advantage of the vacuum in the premier investigation agency in the State. Speaking to presspersons at Raj Bhavan after conferring doctorate degrees on two eminent scientists, the Governor maintained that the standoff between him and Chief Minister D.V. Sadananda Gowda on the appointment of Lokayukta had not created any constitutional...

With less than a week left, the UPA government seems to be split on the issue of appealing against the Karnataka High Court’s order stating that wages under the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act have to be fixed as per Minimum Wages Act. The Special Leave Petition challenging the High Court order has to be filed by December 23. But while PM Manmohan Singh and the Finance Ministry are...

The wait to know whether your child's school admission is confirmed just got longer. Many city schools have put admission on hold, thanks to the confusion prevailing over some provisions of the Right to Education (RTE) Act. The landmark law, which guarantees every child education, has also made it mandatory for all schools, including private institutions, to set apart 25% of their seats for the under-privileged. Though it was passed in...