Rising farm wages, which have a major impact on food prices, may force the government to devise a blueprint in which agricultural work is included under a widened ambit of a government's flagship job surety scheme, a key government official said. "We may need to come up with some sort of a special agreement for wage payment to beneficiaries working on farms since they are privately owned," Ashok Gulati, noted farm...

Reconsidering its earlier decision, the United Progressive Alliance government is now contemplating not to give direct inclusion to all members of the Scheduled Caste and Scheduled Tribe communities in the proposed BPL list if one goes by the modalities being laid out for conducting the census. Their inclusion will now be based on their ranking obtained from the number of deprivation indicators they satisfy. Similarly, minorities too don't get the same...

The idea of the first Jan Lokpal Bill dates back to as early as 1969, yet this democratic bill was always denied by the pseudo democratic government of India for the last 42 years. None of the Lokpal bills introduced again and again in 1971, 1977, 1985, 1989, 1996, 1998, 2001, 2005 and 2008 passed the approval nod of our great Indian leaders simply because it threatened the supreme powers...

On a two-day visit to tribal-dominated district of Dahod, Gujarat Governor Kamla Beniwal on Friday said that benefits of Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme (MGNREGS) must reach the farmers regularly. Beniwal interacted with villagers in Dhanpur taluka on Friday and met local leaders at Devgadh Baria. Many villagers complained shortage of drinking water and about MGNREGS irregularities. The Governor also met women from self-help groups from the region. ...

Reacting to a report published in The Hindu, which told the story of illegal Employment of children and their plight in the coal mines of Hazaribagh district, the National Human Rights Commission (NHRC) has issued notice to Jharkhand Chief Secretary Ashok Kumar Singh seeking a report within four weeks on the issue. The news report, “In Jharkhand, children slug it out in ‘rat holes' to make a living”, was published...