-The Business Standard The Ministry of Rural Development has rejected the demand of a parliamentary standing committee to include the works of artisans, weavers and leather workers in the list of permissible works under the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme. The Central Employment Guarantee Council, constituted under the legislation establishing the rural jobs scheme to oversee it, had earlier turned down this recommendation of the standing committee on urban and...

Online cards issued under the government's flagship rural jobs scheme will now include the beneficiary's 12-digit 'Aadhar' number issued under the Centre's multi-crore unique ID project that has drawn more brickbats than bouquets.  Over the next three months, state governments will update the registration data, including Aadhar numbers, of beneficiaries under the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme in an exercise to weed out ghost cards.  "This will help us assess...

Jim Clifton, chairman and chief executive officer of US research and consulting services company Gallup Inc., says he does not understand art, golf or sailing. He only understands polls as he grew up in Nebraska interviewing farmers and ranchers for his client Cargill. Clifton acquired privately owned Gallup in 1988 and merged it with his own poll company that he started at 18. Today, Gallup is known for its presidential...

-The United Nations The global employment situation is alarming, says a new United Nations report released today, which also warns that recovery is not expected any time soon. The World of Work Report 2012: Better jobs for a Better Economy – published by the UN International Labour Organization (ILO) – says that around 50 million jobs are still missing compared to the situation that existed before the global economic crisis. It also warns...

-The Economic Times A record high of 31% of Indian adults - or about 240 million Indians - rate their lives poorly enough to be considered 'suffering', according to the 2012 Gallup research released Monday at the Behavioral Economics Forum in New Delhi. This is against 24% "suffering" in 2011. Engagement in Indian workplaces is also a concern, with 8% of Indians who are employed for an employer being engaged, versus 32%...