Bench refuses to stay Karnataka High Court order In a major setback to the UPA government at the Centre, the Supreme Court on Monday refused to stay the Karnataka High Court order for payment of minimum wages to the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme (MGNREGS) workers and suggested that the government, instead of appearing adversarial, should resolve the issue through a consultative process. The only relief the government secured was...

-PTI The wives of ministers in the Nitish Kumar-led government in Bihar are richer than their husbands, details of movable and immovable assets declared by the ministers for the year ended December 31, 2011 have revealed. The property details of the ministers and their family members were posted on the Bihar government website before the Assembly election.   The ministers, whose spouses have earned more movable assets, are: Deputy Chief Minister Sushil Kumar Modi,...

-PTI   The government has decided to give its skill development initiative a "major push" during the 12th Plan Period and set up sector skill councils to prepare standards required for training programmes. The National Skill Development Council (NSDC) which met here yesterday under the chairmanship of Prime Minister Manmohan Singh also tasked S Ramadorai, adviser to the Prime Minister, to prepare a detailed proposal for mainstreaming the skill agenda in the next...

-The Telegraph   rural development minister Jairam Ramesh today asked social organisations run by the Catholic Church to help the government carry out development programmes in Maoist-hit tribal areas but cautioned them against “religious mobilisation”. At an event held by Caritas India, Ramesh asked the Catholic organisation to help break down the “trust deficit” between the government and the tribal communities. But he added that Caritas should observe a certain “Lakshman rekha”. “I expect...

-PTI Economies of Indian states can grow 1.08% faster with every 10% increase in Internet and broadband connections, says a study released today by Indian Council for Research on International Economic Relations (ICRIER). Consequently, for every 10% increase in Internet and broadband penetration, India could potentially add $17 billion to the Gross Domestic Product (GDP), the report said. "Our first major finding is the existence of a positive and significant coefficient on Internet....