-The Hindu By filing a Special Leave Petition against the Karnataka High Court order directing payment of statutory minimum wages to workers under the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme (MGNREGS), the United Progressive Alliance government has betrayed its insensitivity to the rights of the poor. The courts have ruled that payment below minimum wage amounts to “forced labour”, which is constitutionally prohibited. The Centre's implacable stand that workers employed...
More »SEARCH RESULT
Dowry death: One bride burnt every hour by Subodh Varma
In a crime that is prevalent only in India, greedy husbands and his relatives harass the newly wed bride for getting more dowry, and often kill her in the process. And, very often, she is burnt alive. This horror is therefore calledbride-burning or in official terms, dowry death. In 2010, there were 8391 reported cases of dowry death in the country. That works out to a shocking one death every hour...
More »RTE promotes parity in education, but not all private schools are convinced
-The Times of India Rashmi Bansal, a student of Activity High School scored 80% in her ICSE examinations in 2007. What differentiated Rashmi's performance from others was that she achieved it without the aid of tuitions. Coming from a family of modest means that was unable to lend much financial support, it was her school that honed her skills and paved the way for her success. "We have always gone the extra...
More »Supreme Court order triggers NREGS wage debate by Moyna
How much should workers under rural employment scheme be paid if minimum wage fixed by a state is more than that of the Centre? The Supreme Court has reiterated the Karnataka High Court order, directing the Centre to pay the minimum daily wage rate applicable in Karnataka to labourers employed in the state under the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme (MGNREGS). The Centre had fixed the wage rate for...
More »Eye on shorter list, Bengal for fresh BPL survey by Pranesh Sarkar
The cash-strapped Bengal government has persuaded the Centre to conduct a fresh survey of the below poverty line (BPL) population in the state. Panchayat and rural development minister Subrata Mukherjee had tossed up the proposal at a meeting with his central counterpart Jairam Ramesh at Budge Budge yesterday. “Poverty estimates by the Centre and the state are markedly different…. So we decided to run a check on whether the Left Front government...
More »