The Supreme Court on Monday issued a notice to the Central government on a PIL seeking disclosure of contents of all tapes of corporate lobbyist Niira Radia which were tapped by government agencies, except pure private conversations. A bench of justices G S Singhvi and S S Nijjar issued notice to the Centre and adjourned the matter for further hearing on February 2. The court passed the order on a petition filed...

Even though the Central Government agreed to link the wages paid under MG-NREGA to the Consumer Price Index for Agricultural Labourers (CPIAL), it shied away from paying statutory minimum wages in various states of India. Their logic for this: Lack of clarity on who will bear the extra financial burden—the Centre or the states? A letter from the Prime Minister Manmohan Singh to UPA and NAC Chairperson Sonia Gandhi dated 31...

Senior Congress leader Vilasrao Deshmukh, who took charge today as the Union rural development minister, said he would look into the controversy over delinking the National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (NREGA), the government’s largest rural employment programme, from the Minimum Wages Act. “I have to go into the matter, as I am not aware of the ministry’s position and the court rulings in the matter so far,” he said. Yesterday, former Supreme...

Refraining granting a stay, the Supreme Court on Monday agreed to examine the validity of the provision of Right to Free and Compulsory Education (RTE) Act which mandated 25 per cent of reserved seats for economically backward sections in private unaided schools. A bench of Chief Justice S.H. Kapadia, justices K.S. Radhakrishnan and Swatanter Kumar did not favour at the moment the idea of referring the matter to a Constitution Bench. “At...

Food and Agriculture Minister Sharad Pawar has declined to be dragged into the controversy surrounding the implementation of the food security Bill. The move assumes significance in the wake of the differences between Sonia Gandhi-led National Advisory Council (NAC) and the Rangarajan committee. Pawar said his ministry was ready to implement the Bill according to the decision taken by the government. On a visit to the state-of-the-art Gowardhan dairy at Manchar,...