The Sonia Gandhi-headed National Advisory Council will meet on Friday for the second time this month. It will consider a number of issues, including the Rangarajan panel’s recommendations on the draft Food Security Bill. The high-profile policy advisory body, headed by the United Progressive Alliance chairperson , may formulate its response to the governmentappointed Rangarajan panel’s recommendations, which were seen as diluting the NAC’s vision of the scope of legally binding...

Even though the Central Government agreed to link the wages paid under MG-NREGA to the Consumer Price Index for Agricultural Labourers (CPIAL), it shied away from paying statutory minimum wages in various states of India. Their logic for this: Lack of clarity on who will bear the extra financial burden—the Centre or the states? A letter from the Prime Minister Manmohan Singh to UPA and NAC Chairperson Sonia Gandhi dated 31...

Like Kerala’s Kasaragod, neighbouring Dakshina Kannada is bearing the brunt of spraying of endosulfan. While Kasaragod grabbed media spotlight and Kerala banned the pesticide, victims in Karnataka are still struggling for recognition. Karnataka chief minister B S Yeddyurappa in December announced that his government would consider banning endosulfan. The highly toxic pesticide is banned in over 70 countries. The assurance has come too late and is too little for the hundreds of...

The Supreme Court on Friday slammed Communications Minister Kapil Sibal for his remark that the official auditor's report was "utterly erroneous" in assessing the loss on award of telecom spectrum at Rs.1.76 lakh crore ($40 billion). "It is unfortunate," said the apex court bench of Justice G.S. Singhvi and Justice A.K. Ganguly. The court said the minister must be more responsible and directed the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) to proceed with...

One of the significant changes in the Cabinet reshuffle on Wednesday was the shifting of Vilasrao Deshmukh from Heavy Industries to Rural Development and Panchyati Raj. The move is being seen as ironic by many as it comes just a month after he was pulled up by the Supreme Court for stopping police action on a complaint by farmers against a money lender, who is the father of a Congress legislator,...