-The Times of India NEW DELHI: Making the most of one last opportunity offered by the Election Commission to enrol themselves before the general elections, 74.56 lakh people turned out at 9.3 lakh polling stations across the country on March 9 to file their applications. EC sources said this is the highest number of Form 6, the application form an eligible voter is required to submit to be included in the rolls,...
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Nitish Kumar’s Bihar slides in GDP growth -Pradeep Thakur
-The Times of India NEW DELHI: Closer to elections, Nitish Kumar's JD (U) government in Bihar seems to be on a slide with the state's GDP growth tumbling down - from a high of 15.05% in 2012-13 to an estimated 8.82% in 2013-14. Incidentally, the ebbing of growth coincides with the split in the JD(U)-BJP alliance. Nitish had called off the alliance with the BJP in mid-June last year when the...
More »Parting gift: wage hike and road relief -Basant Kumar Mohanty
-The Telegraph New Delhi: The UPA has hiked wages for national job scheme workers by 4-18 per cent in what appears to be a "parting gift" before the elections, but failed to match "arbitrary" revisions in minimum wages for agricultural labourers in 12 states, including Bengal. According to the new wage rates under the Mahatma Gandhi National Employment Guarantee Act, an MGNREGA labourer in Haryana will get Rs 236 a day, the...
More »Cabinet must quickly approve national policy on domestic workers: NGOs, activists
-The Times of India NEW DELHI: The draft national policy on domestic workers, awaiting the Union Cabinet's nod, must be approved at the earliest. Activists and NGOs echoed this view at a panel discussion on Wednesday. "A national policy is the first step towards ensuring rights for domestic workers. It is also the first step before legislation is enacted. But despite our persistent efforts, progress is so slow," said Varghese Theckanath, convenor,...
More »Whistleblower Protection Bill is designed to help RTI activists -Manoj Mitta
-The Times of India NEW DELHI: With every passing day, the current parliamentary session - which is the last one before the Lok Sabha election - seems less and less likely to pass the six corruption-related Bills promised by Rahul Gandhi. In a bid to salvage the situation, Aruna Roy's group has zeroed in two of those six Bills, saying that they were "non-controversial" and "necessary complements" to the much touted...
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