The UPA-II government introduces with BJP support two anti-labour Bills, the Pension Bill and the Labour Laws Amendment Bill. ON March 24, the United Progressive Alliance (UPA) government managed to do what it had not been able to do in its first term – it reintroduced the Pension Fund Regulatory and Development Authority (PFRDA) Bill in Parliament with the support of the Bharatiya Janata Party. The objective of the Bill is...

Directs Centre to frame rehabilitation scheme for rescued children ‘Issue suitable notifications within two months to prohibit Employment of children in circuses' Instances of children being forcefully detained, sometimes under extreme inhuman conditions The Supreme Court on Monday banned the Employment of children in circuses and directed the Union government to take immediate steps to rescue those engaged in such Employment. A Bench of Justices Dalveer Bhandari and A.K. Patnaik, passing orders on a...

India's Supreme Court has ordered circuses to stop employing children and instructed the government to rescue and rehabilitate working minors. Until a recently passed amendment, circuses were largely exempt from India's Child Labour Act which bans the Employment of children under 14. But circus owners ignored the ruling and the court is now enforcing the ban. Circus professionals criticised the law, saying training from a young age is crucial for developing skills. "One can...

The Samanda community and rural development block has achieved the unique distinction of 99.97 person days per household and become the first in the state to provide 100 man days for each registered household under the National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme (NREGS). As many as 149 out of 151 village Employment councils achieved the target. Samanda is near Williamnagar, the district headquarters of East Garo Hills, and is about 325km from...

After finishing top in 2010, Nizamabad slipped to fourth place behind Visakhapatnam, Vizianagaram and Srikakulam districts in the implementation of Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme (NREGS) in the state this year. The NREGS works suffered a big setback this year due to non-cooperation movement conducted by Telangana employees' association demanding introduction of separate T state Bill in the Parliament from February 17 to March 4. Sources said hectic agricultural activity...