AS THE UPA government struggled to hide its embarrassment over the finance ministry note on the 2G spectrum allocation, the RTI Act — through which the note was made public — has become the whipping boy. Senior Cabinet members such as Corporate Affairs Minister Veerappa Moily and Law Minister Salman Khurshid have hit out at the ‘misuse’ of the transparency law. Moily called for a national debate as he claimed RTI...
More »SEARCH RESULT
Total Matching Records found : 596
Minimum wages likely for MGNREGA workers by K Balchand
The Centre is likely to pay minimum wages to workers under the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (MGNREGA) in compliance with the recent Karnataka High Court ruling upholding the supremacy of the Minimum Wages Act (MWA) over the MGNREGA. Union Minister of Rural Development Jairam Ramesh has taken a decision favouring payment of minimum wages for agricultural workers as notified by the States as MGNREGA wages. He told The...
More »PM Manmohan Singh calls for review of RTI Act
-The Economic Times Prime Minister Manmohan Singh has called for a review of the Right to Information (RTI) Act, one of the UPA's trophy legislations, potentially exposing the government to a fresh stand-off with civil society. Addressing a two-day annual convention of the Central Information Commission here, Singh said the transparency law should not adversely affect deliberative processes in the government and discourage honest, well-meaning public servants from voicing their views. He...
More »Debate over giving constitutional status to Lokpal by Smita Gupta
The Congress appears to have put the cat among the pigeons by suggesting that the proposed Lokpal Bill — currently before a Standing Committee of Parliament — be given constitutional status to give it more muscle. Taken aback, both the Opposition parties and the Team Anna have objected to the move, saying it is a ploy to delay the passage of the Bill as it would require a Constitutional amendment —...
More »Priority member should get 7 kg grains: Food bill by Sanjeeb Mukherjee
-The Business Standard PDS no prerequisite for grain entitlement to general-category families. The contours of the Food Security Bill are firming up, what with the proposed legislation now stipulating a monthly minimum of seven kilograms of grains per person for the country’s priority households. In fact, this category of families — with a pregnant woman, dependent children or a differently-abled member — will get even higher quota depending upon the availability, as...
More »
