The “paid news syndrome” in the media should be resisted as part of a larger struggle for democratic rights because corruption in the media directly affects the health of democracy. The struggle has to be waged in the context of media's corporatisation, monopolistic trends and structural decline. These views emerged at a day-long seminar on “Abridging Freedom and Fairness of the Media: Combating Challenges,” organised by the Rajasthan Working Journalists' Union,...

Tribals living in and around the Niyamgiri hills in Orissa's Kalahandi district are up in arms once again. The Niyamgiri Suraksha Samiti, an organisation of tribals that has been opposing Vedanta's alumina refinery, on Saturday said it would intensify the agitation. The announcement came a day after a group of pro-Vedanta organisations approached the Orissa High Court challenging a recent order of the Union Ministry of Environment and Forests withdrawing the terms...

National Advisory Council chairperson Sonia Gandhi has requested Prime Minister Manmohan Singh to give “suitable directions” to rescue the MNREGA and ensure that all workers get paid in accordance with the Minimum Wages Act (1948). In a letter dated November 11, Sonia Gandhi, who is also UPA chairperson, has appended a 10-page note on the subject. The note details the concerns and outlines the legal arguments in support of paying workers...

Calls for “suitable directions” on paying statutory minimum wages A follow-up to NAC meeting, which felt there should be no deviation from statutory wages Andhra Pradesh and Gujarat Chief Ministers have also made a strong plea for minimum wages Sonia Gandhi has written to Prime Minister Manmohan Singh urging “suitable directions” on paying statutory minimum wages to workers employed under the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme (MNREGS). The November 11 letter is...

BJP is screaming hoarse about corruption in the UPA and demanding telecom minister A Raja's scalp for alleged misdeeds related to 2G spectrum allotment. But in Karnataka, where the party is in power, more skeletons are tumbling out of the scam-scarred B S Yeddyurappa government's cupboard. The latest to come to light had the chief minister allot land to his sons' company. In the first of the three cases, about which...