The Food Corporation of India is looking to augment its storage capacity in the north-east region to ensure timely supplies for the government’s public distribution system. “Inadequate storage facility in the north-east region creates problems in ensuring regular supplies to the PDS (public distribution system),” Union agriculture minister Sharad Pawar told ET. The current storage capacity of the government’s top grain management agency in the north-eastern states is 4.58 lakh...

Manual scavenging persists, but community and political mobilisation of workers has initiated change. Only those who are in denial are surprised by the continued existence in India of casteism and inhuman practices associated with stigmatisation, despite institutions of the state decreeing their abolition. But progress has been made in fits and starts, and agency – in the form of community and political mobilisation – has played a role in their slow...

Aiming to arrest the spread of Red terror in the country, the Union Cabinet cleared a Rs 3,300 crore special plan for 60 Naxal-affected districts across nine states to ensure overall development of these areas. Earlier, 35 districts were slated to receive the funds. Under the special plan -- Integrated Action Plan (IAP) for Selected Tribal and Backward Districts -- each of the 60 Naxal-hit districts would get Rs 25 crore...

The Central Vigilance Commission (CVC), probing alleged financial bungling in the Commonwealth Games-related projects, has referred certain cases to the Enforcement Directorate (ED) to check whether there was violation of foreign exchange laws. Official sources said that projects like Construction of Commonwealth Games Village near Akshardham temple and flyovers, hiring and procurement of medical and fitness equipment and conduct of outdoor publicity campaign by the Organising Committee may come under the...

The two day 43rd Session of the Indian Labour Conference (ILC), the apex national tripartite body that discusses key issues affecting labour and employment and provides policy perspectives and recommendations, concluded in New Delhi today. The Conference was inaugurated by Prime Minister Dr. Manmohan Singh on Tuesday 23rd November 2010. Senior level representatives of the three pillars of the tripartism, Trade Unions, Employers’ Associations and Government, participated in the deliberations...