-PTI NEW DELHI: Reaching out to youths in Naxal-hit areas, Centre on Friday launched a placement linked skill development scheme targeting 50,000 rural men and women, mostly tribals, in 24 worst affected districts. Initiating the programme called "Roshni", rural development minister Jairam Ramesh said at least 50 per cent of the candidates covered under the scheme will be women and special efforts will be made to proactively cover particularly vulnerable tribal groups...

-The Business Standard Having quit the National Advisory Council (NAC), Aruna Roy of the Mazdoor Kisan Sangharsh Samiti (MKSS) will intensify the movement to get minimum wages countrywide under the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act and a Rs 1,000 a month pension for unorganised labourers. She will also press the government to make it mandatory to have a pre-legislation process for all bills that the government proposes to introduce...

-The Economic Times NEW DELHI: You may end up saving more in the months ahead with the Employees Provident Fund Organization (EPFO) readying to re-notify a new definition of "compensation" that will include all your allowances, amid intense lobbying against the move by industry bodies. Currently, employers get away by contributing only 12% of the basic salary and dearness allowance, which is not paid by most companies, towards their share of "matching"...

-The Hindu Every hour 25 women fall victim to crimes; 11 suffer cruelty by husbands and other relatives; three are raped; and there is one dowry death. Horrific crimes against women have, in fact, continued unabated. What is worse is that there has been an acceleration of such crimes in recent years, with the annual rate rising from 5.9 per cent in 2006 to 7.8 per cent during 2006-2011. Cases of domestic...

-PTI Bhopal: Serious irregularities like non-submission of utilisation certificates and delay in payment of wages to beneficiaries among others have come to notice in an official report on the implementation of MGNREGA scheme in Madhya Pradesh. It was also found that the state government was not following necessary budgetary procedures while seeking grant from the Centre under the flagship programme. It was noticed during the inspection in eight districts that the ratio of...