-PTI   Several political parties on Tuesday pledged their support to journalists and non-journalists who staged a day-long dharna across the country to protest against the “delay” in notification of the Wage Boards for them and promised to raise the issue in Parliament. Senior leaders of the BJP, the CPI(M), the CPI and the JD(U) alleged that the government was “dithering” on the issue as “it wants to serve the interests of...

-PTI   Nearly 121 Central Government Employees, including one from CBI, are under Central Vigilance Commission (CVC) scanner for their alleged involvement in corrupt practices. Railway ministry topped the list with 23 officials under CVC scanner, 17 are from DoT, 12 from Bureau of Indian Standards, seven from Central Board of Excise and Customs, six each from DDA and MCD among others, a CVC report said. The anti-corruption watchdog recommended major penalty against...

The episodes of violence in land acquisition by the government, as witnessed recently in Bhatta-Parsaul in Uttar Pradesh and in other states earlier, occur because patterns of violence are inbuilt into the process. Despite a bill pending in Parliament since 2007, there has been little effort by political parties to evolve a consensus on acquisition of agricultural land for non-agricultural purposes. The law as at present and also the provisions...

-The Economic Times   Over half the country's workforce is self-employed and women receive less pay than men for similar jobs, latest government data shows. While 51% of the country's total workforce are self-employed, only 15.5% are regular wagers or salaried employees and 33.5% casual labourers, according to a survey by the National Sample Survey Office (NSSO), the key findings of which were released on Friday. The number of people selfemployed...

Signs of softening of stand by management and workers The deadlock at Maruti Suzuki's Manesar plant continued on Sunday amid signs of a softening of stand by both the management and workers. Nearly 2,000 workers are currently on the ninth day of a stay-in strike. While the talks held on Saturday night between Haryana Labour Minister Shiv Charan Lal Sharma and trade union representatives failed to break the impasse, another round of...