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...

Action plan proposed to improve rural connectivity for fighting extremism Rural Development Minister Jairam Ramesh on Monday said development and security were integral to each other, like strands in a single fabric. He was speaking in the context of the proposed Sarju Area Development Action Plan (SADAP), which is similar to the Saranda Action Plan (SAP) that was started six months ago in the Chibasa district of Jharkhand to combat the extremist...

-The Financial Express A case of cheating and criminal conspiracy was lodged against an RTI activist here for allegedly taking a residential plot from the Haryana Urban Development Authority (HUDA) using false documents. RTI national awardee Manoj Karwasra was booked yesterday under Section 420 (cheating) and 120 B (criminal conspiracy) of IPC for allegedly availing the plot under the defence category quota on a false affidavit of ex-servicemen, police said. In his complain,...

Jim Clifton, chairman and chief executive officer of US research and consulting services company Gallup Inc., says he does not understand art, golf or sailing. He only understands polls as he grew up in Nebraska interviewing farmers and ranchers for his client Cargill. Clifton acquired privately owned Gallup in 1988 and merged it with his own poll company that he started at 18. Today, Gallup is known for its presidential...

-The Hindustan Times A Right to Information activist has submitted a video CD to Lok Sabha Speaker Meira Kumar, in which a BJP Lok Sabha MP has been allegedly shown receiving cash and in return promising land to a private party. RTI activist Dev Ashish Bhattacharya submitted the controversial “cash-on-camera” CD, to the Speaker on April 27 and sought an impartial probe into the matter. He requested the Speaker to reopen the...