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The Telegraph June 4, 2020 The Jharkhand rural development department has set a target of giving 10 lakh jobs to migrant workers through the  pani roko, paudha ropo  (conserve water, plant trees) campaign Integrating the various water conservation techniques with plantation of fruit-bearing trees and linking it to the MGNREGA scheme, the campaign was launched this month across 24 districts to provide jobs to migrant workers, who would get a daily wage of Rs 194. State rural development minister and Congress legislator Alamgir Alam said: “Almost five lakh migrant workers have returned so far. We are expecting around two lakh more to return. Amid the Covid-19 crisis, we have found an opportunity to provide jobs to 10 lakh people. Work has already started in all 24 districts. Migrant workers from Jharkhand and other states, who have lost their livelihood in urban areas owing to the adverse effect of Covid-19, will be accommodated in such schemes. They will get a daily ...

The Telegraph Dated: May 02, 2020 Academics and labour unions on Friday termed this May Day the worst in recent history, citing how five states had legitimised an increase in working hours from eight to 12 while the Centre had introduced a bill that makes hiring and firing easier. May Day signifies a celebration of workers’ rights but, they rued, this May 1 finds the workers stripped not just of their jobs by the Covid-19 crisis but also of some of the rights they had earned through decades of struggle. K.R. Shyam Sundar, professor of labour studies at Xavier Institute of Management, Jamshedpur, said governments in India were “reinventing the 19th-century labour exploitation model”. When the workers return to the factories after a relaxation of the lockdown, those in Gujarat, Rajasthan, Punjab, Himachal Pradesh and Haryana can be asked to work 12 hours a day. In Gujarat, they will be paid at the same rate for the extra hours as for the first eight hours, although the Fa...

Supreme Court has ordered the Delhi government to implement the notification dated March 3, 2017, which stated that the minimum wage for graduates should be at least Rs. 19,572. The notification stipulated the minimum wage for various different work categories in Delhi. SC also ordered that the various appeals filed in this case should be addressed with speedy hearings. These appeals were filed by various employers and factory owners. In this notification, the minimum wages have been fixed for several notified jobs. According to the notification, the wages for several sections of workers were fixed. The wages for workers are mentioned below:     Unskilled worker- Rs. 14,842 per month     Semi skilled worker- Rs. 16,341 per month     Skilled worker- Rs. 17,991 per month The notification also mentioned the minimum wages for staff like clerks and supervisors, whose wages are mentioned below:     Non matriculation staff- Rs. 16,3...

Business Line July 16, 2019 All India Kisan Sabha (AIKS), a farmer organisation affiliated to the CPI-M, said it would organise agitations jointly with like-minded organisations across the country to protest the proposed amendments to forest-related legislations next Monday. AIKS units would organise demonstrations to protest eviction threats faced by tribal and other traditional forest dwelling communities, its General Secretary Hannan Mollah and other leaders told at a press conference here. Millions of Adivasis and other traditional forest dwelling communities are facing the danger of eviction due to the Supreme Court ruling on February 13 this year. If their claims under the Forest Rights Act (FRA) are rejected, then the States have been directed to evict Adivasis and traditional forest dwellers from the forests, they said adding that the apex court which stayed the ruling till July 10 is to hear it on July 24. The protest is also against the proposed amendments to the...

The Quint, Feb 22, 2019 The government is reportedly looking to discard National Sample Survey Office’s (NSSO) report on unemployment and use the Labour Bureau’s survey of the Mudra scheme instead. In a report, The Indian Express said the Niti Aayog has asked the Labour Ministry to present the survey’s findings by 27 February. The ministry has reportedly been asked to show data for direct employment and jobs created by spin-off as a result of availing the Mudra scheme. The development attains significance as the Modi-led government has been facing flak on being unable to create enough jobs. The sixth employment-unemployment survey of the Labour Bureau showed unemployment rising to a four-year high of 3.9 percent in in 2016-17. Late last month, Business Standard reported that the unemployment rate had zoomed to a 45-year high of 6.1 percent during 2017-18, according to the NSSO’s periodic labour force survey (PLFS). Now, the government wants to take into accoun...

The Economic Times January 23, 2018 In a relief for thousands of Indian workers forced to illegally extend their stay in Kuwait due to non-payment of salaries, the Kuwaiti government on Tuesday announced that it won't impose any penalty on them.  The amnesty has been granted from January 29 to February 22.  "This comes as a great relief for the Indian workers," said social worker Shaheen Sayyed who had taken up their cause. A worker, Naresh Naidu, who was employed with Kharifi National and had extended his stay to demand his salary dues, is one among those keen to make use of the amnesty.  Naidu, who hails from Andhra Pradesh, told TOI that he went to the Indian Embassy in Kuwait today and submitted his details so that he could return home. "I found many workers from Telugu states eager to return home," he said.  The penalty for overstaying in Kuwait is two Kuwaiti Dinars, i.e. Rs 424, per day. The unpaid workers, who had overstayed...