The government must stop dilly-dallying over the project and apply the law regardless of the fact that it is India's single largest foreign investment proposal. TWO giant metallurgical projects, both in Orissa. Both promoted by big multinational corporations with tremendous influence. Both opposed by environmental and tribal rights activists because they would displace vulnerable people and destroy fragile ecosystems. Both backed strongly by State-level and national lobbies that claim they...

Basic social security remains out of reach for most people across the world, especially in poorer countries, despite the crucial role it plays in cushioning people from the consequences of economic crises, according to a United Nations report unveiled today. The “World Social Security Report 2010-2011: Providing coverage in times of crisis and beyond,” prepared by the UN International Labour Organization (ILO), examines the gaps in access to social security programmes...

After 47 days of their sit-in, government agrees to pay prevailing minimum wage From a black Diwali to a colourful Id! For hundreds of labourers who sat on dharna from October 2 near the Statue Circle here to press their demand for minimum wages under the MNREGS (Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme), it was celebration time on Wednesday. After 47 days of sit-in protest, which was preceded by a...

Being obsessed with Google, a betel shop owner has exposed the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (NREGA) scam in Porbandar where most of the laborers mentioned in the list of beneficiaries were affluent NRIs, doctors in real life, who had never been a part of any job scheme. They have been shown as unemployed village labourers holding NREGA job cards, reports Hiral Dave of the Financial Express. The...

The Rajasthan government today said it would index the payment for work under the National Rural Employment Guarantee Act to the rate of inflation. This would be the first such move by any state since the Centre froze minimum wages for the scheme two years before, at Rs 100 a day. This is one of the conditions the government agreed to while arriving at a settlement with the Mazdoor Kisan Shakti...