-The Economic Times   The Supreme Court has refused to stay a recent Karnataka High Court verdict that has said the central government is liable to pay higher wages under the country's flagship rural employment programme in tandem with that of the state minimum wage rate. It has further asked the government to find a way to end the disparity between the wages paid under Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Act (MGNREGA)...

-PTI The government on Monday announced convergence of the Member of Parliament Local Area Development (MPLAD) scheme with the rural employment guarantee scheme MGNREGA for creating more durable assets in the country.  "Statistics and Programme Implementation Minister Srikant Kumar Jena has approved convergence of MPLAD scheme with Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (MGNREGA)," an official statement said here.  According to the statement, it was done after government received representations to converge...

Bench refuses to stay Karnataka High Court order In a major setback to the UPA government at the Centre, the Supreme Court on Monday refused to stay the Karnataka High Court order for payment of minimum wages to the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme (MGNREGS) workers and suggested that the government, instead of appearing adversarial, should resolve the issue through a consultative process. The only relief the government secured was...

-PTI   The government has decided to give its skill development initiative a "major push" during the 12th Plan Period and set up sector skill councils to prepare standards required for training programmes. The National Skill Development Council (NSDC) which met here yesterday under the chairmanship of Prime Minister Manmohan Singh also tasked S Ramadorai, adviser to the Prime Minister, to prepare a detailed proposal for mainstreaming the skill agenda in the next...

-The Hindu   Suggest “necessary preventive” measures to safeguard the interest of workers   Trade union groups on Monday pitched for a worker-oriented Budget for 2012-13 aimed at removing poverty and unemployment and suggested “necessary preventive” measures to safeguard the interests of workers. At their meeting here with Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee — the second in the series of the customary pre-Budget consultations — representatives of trade unions (TUs) proposed that wages of contract labour...