The United Progressive Alliance government may have shown a willingness to draft a new Lokpal Bill, but it is dragging its feet on a proposal to strengthen the public institution that has done so much to expose wrongdoings in public life: the Comptroller and Auditor-General (CAG). For the past two years, the CAG has been pushing the Finance Ministry — its nodal ministry — for crucial changes in the 1971 Audit...
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Plan panel mulls ways to spur Dalit capitalism by Pallavi Singh
The government has begun discussions with Dalit entrepreneurs on what can be done to promote business ventures set up by members of their community. As a part of its discussions with various groups before it finalizes the 12th Plan for 2012-17, the Planning Commission has sought suggestions from the Dalit Indian Chamber of Commerce and Industry (Dicci), a business group, on what can be done to spur Dalit capitalism, how these...
More »Metro bars Gammon for two years
Over a year after the Zamrudpur site mishap that killed seven people due to a cantilever pillar collapse, the Delhi Metro has issued a notification debarring Gammon India from participating in any Delhi Metro Rail Corporation contract. Gammon India, the contractor executing the Metro construction project on the affected stretch, has also been slapped with a penalty of Rs 5 crore. Delhi Metro blamed “deficiency” in design and material for the...
More »For whom the bell tolls by Moushumi Basu
It is imperative that the committee constituted to look into charges of corruption in the Commonwealth Games should also include violations of labour laws within its purview. One of the more blatant and visible scams of the recently concluded Commonwealth Games relates to how the thousands of workers who worked on the games construction sites were denied minimum wages, safety equipment, housing and other benefits constitutionally due to them. In an interview...
More »109 workers died at DMRC sites by Ambika Pandit
In reply to an RTI query filed by the People's Union for Democratic Rights (PUDR) in August, the labour department of Delhi government has said that it does not have consolidated figures on the labour deaths reported during the Commonwealth Games preparations. The Delhi Metro Rail Corporation (DMRC) had separately filed an affidavit in the high court in September which said that 109 workers had died on its sites during...
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