In August last year, Maruti was one of the two case studies presented at a Confederation of Indian Industry (CII) seminar on contract labour for the way the automobile company had “engaged with its contract labour”. It is ironic that less than a year later, the company is in the middle of an indefinite strike by 800 of its workers who are demanding a permanent absorption of contract workers at the...

-The Hindu   Polit Bureau discusses reports of West Bengal, Kerala State Committees on Assembly elections The Communist Party of India (Marxist) on Friday reiterated its commitment to inclusion of the Prime Minister in the purview of the proposed institution of Lokpal. Addressing journalists after the Polit Bureau meeting, MP Sitaram Yechury recalled that a law on Lokpal was something that the party was pursuing for 30 years since the Bofors issue...

Discussions with Plan panel, finmin and NAC almost over, draft law to be finalized at the next eGoM meeting The Congress-led United Progressive Alliance (UPA) government is expected to introduce the National Food security Bill, a proposal that aims to provide subsidized foodgrain to the poor, in the monsoon session of Parliament even as the procurement of rice and wheat touches a record high. The ruling Congress party had pledged in its...

-The Indian Express   In a letter to Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee, former law minister Shanti Bhushan, one of the “civil society” members of the drafting committee for the Lokpal bill, has tried to explain why examining the prime minister’s actions should be part of any eventual Lokpal’s powers. “The prime minister is privy to the entire security-related information of this country,” Bhushan argues. “What if Mr Madhu Koda or A....

In a bid to smoothen the distribution of foodgrain across the country, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh has approved the developing of a National Foodgrain Movement Plan that will tie up with the UPA government’s ambitious food security law, sources said. To be implemented by the Ministry of Food and Public Distribution, in collaboration with Indian Railways, the plan was recently discussed between the PM and MoS, Consumer Affairs, Food and Public...