-The New Indian Express NEW DELHI: Taking a step towards initiating labour reforms, the BJP Government on Friday managed to get the Labour Amendment Bill passed in the Lok Sabha, thus paving a way for it to become a law. The Bill has already been passed by the Upper House. The Labour Law (Exemption from Furnishing Returns and Maintaining Registers by certain Establishments) Amendment Bill, 2011, was passed in the Lok Sabha...

-The Telegraph The finance ministry has decided to shave Rs 3,000 crore, or about nine per cent, off the rural job guarantee scheme's budget allocation, government sources told The Telegraph. The move comes at a time the NDA government has been trying to assuage the fears of the Opposition and social activists that it plans to dilute the programme, introduced by the UPA government. This year's budget allocation for the programme was Rs...

-The Hindu But immunisation record worsens India's more developed states, especially its southern states, have seen improvements in child nutrition over the last five years, but have a patchy record on immunisation, new official data shows. The Ministry of Health and Family Welfare has begun releasing data for the fourth round of the District Level Health Survey, which covers all of the country, except the eight backward northern states known as the Empowered...

-The Times of India Over two crore households have been denied work under the fund-starved rural job guarantee scheme in the past eight months. This is a direct result of the deep cuts in funding of the scheme and various other changes initiated by the Modi government. With the employment situation still dire and the new government's long-term efforts to catalyze industrial growth still on the drawing board, the failure of...

-The Indian Express The tragedy of several women dying after undergoing sterilisation operations in the Bilaspur district of Chhattisgarh has once again thrown up uncomfortable questions around India's population programme. Although the cases are being investigated and the exact cause of the deaths has not been ascertained, the incident brings to light the abysmal conditions in which women are compelled to accept government-provided contraception. India is a signatory to an agreement at...