The exploitation of migrant construction workers has grown alongside the expansion of the industry. It's time the government got serious about upholding the law. A recent report in The Hindu on the violation of labour laws at a massive construction site belonging to the Army Welfare Housing Organisation in Bangalore raises yet again the repeated neglect of regulations relating to the employment and welfare of workers by construction companies in India. For...

-The Deccan Herald   Thousands of tribals in the Yavatmal region bordering Andhra Pradesh will take to the streets in Pandharkawda Collectorate on Friday to press for a CBI probe into the alleged siphoning off over Rs 25 crores from schemes sponsored by the state and Central governments. The tribals, working under Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (MGNREGA), have not been paid since January 2012. The same goes for tendu leaf...

-PTI Tribals in the district have planned to take out a rally on May 4 in Pandharkawda town, 80 km from here, to demand a CBI probe into the alleged rampant corruption in the state and central government-sponsored schemes. According to them, people working under the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (MGNREGA) have been not been paid their wages since January 2012. Similarly the tribals deployed for plucking tendu...

Rural India has been denied access to globalisation, penalising farmers and farm labour. For the farmer, the government's policy is best described as Dhritarashtra's embrace. After the Mahabharata war was over, the old king met his nephews, the victorious Pandavas, and embraced them, one by one, in a gesture of forgiving and affection. When, Bhima's turn came, the loving embrace was so tight that it crushed a metal dummy of the second...

The Sonia-Gandhi led National Advisory Council is pushing to amend the Unorganised Workers’ Social Security Act, 2008 to make it more inclusive and include a comprehensive social security package. The council, which met last month, pitched for a security package that would contain health insurance, maternity assistance, a life-cum-disability insurance scheme and a pension plan that it proposed should be provided through a single window backed by an inter-ministerial committee consisting...