Indian civil society was dismayed and horror-struck when human rights activist Dr Binayak Sen, who has spent over three decades caring for the poor in tribal areas of central India, was sentenced to life imprisonment for ‘sedition’ along with two others, Piyush Guha and Narayan Sanyal by a Raipur Sessions Court judge. Protests are taking place everywhere in the country and the members of India’s vibrant civil society, peoples’ movements,...
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Experts group to study NAC proposals on food security Bill by Gargi Parsai
Led by C. Rangarajan, it has been appointed by Manmohan In a significant move, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh has formed an experts group chaired by the chief of Prime Minister's Economic Advisory Council, C. Rangarajan, to examine the recommendations of the Sonia Gandhi-headed National Advisory Council on the proposed food security Bill. The move surprised members of the council who met here on Friday to discuss the draft of the National Food...
More »NAC to discuss draft of Food Security Bill by Gargi Parsai
The National Advisory Council (NAC) will meet here on Friday to discuss the working group's draft of the National Food Security Bill. The draft suggests the setting up of an autonomous body for grievance redress and enforcement of penalties. The authority could function along the lines of the national and State-level commissions set up under the Right to Information Act. The draft Bill defines the penalties for violations of the Act, and...
More »Sonia writes to Manmohan on MNREGS wages by Vidya Subrahmaniam
Calls for “suitable directions” on paying statutory minimum wages A follow-up to NAC meeting, which felt there should be no deviation from statutory wages Andhra Pradesh and Gujarat Chief Ministers have also made a strong plea for minimum wages Sonia Gandhi has written to Prime Minister Manmohan Singh urging “suitable directions” on paying statutory minimum wages to workers employed under the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme (MNREGS). The November 11 letter is...
More »Sonia prods Singh with rural job letter by Imran Ahmed Siddiqui
Sonia Gandhi has written to the Prime Minister requesting him to find a way so that workers under the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act are paid the minimum wages across the country. In a letter dated November 11, Sonia wrote: “Since the matter is of an urgent and inter-ministerial nature, you may wish to have it examined and give suitable directions.” The National Advisory Council, headed by Sonia, had in...
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