South Asia Citizens Web

Extreme Buddhist nationalist positions including hate speech and violence are on the rise in Myanmar. Rather than ineffective bans on broad-based groups like the Association for the Protection of Race and Religion (MaBaTha), the government should address underlying causes and reframe the debate on Buddhism’s place in society and politics.

WITH the surrender of Pakistani troops on December 16, 1971, in Dhaka, Bangladesh came into being, and with that, the end of the Pakistan that Quaid-i-Azam Mohammad Ali Jinnah had originally created. It also resulted in the end of 13 years of military rule in what remained of the country.

The World Employment and Social Outlook 2017: Sustainable enterprises and jobs

चूंकि कई बार मांगने पर भी ग्रामीण विकास मंत्रालय ने राष्ट्रीय ग्रामीण रोज़गार गारंटी कानून (नरेगा) मज़दूरी दर के निर्धारण के लिए गठित नागेश सिंह कमिटी की अंतिम अनुशंसाओं को सार्वजनिक नहीं किया है, नरेगा संघर्ष मोर्चा इस कमिटी की ड्राफ़्ट अनुशंसाओं पर ही अपनी टिप्पणी दे रहा है. मोर्चा इन अनुशंसाओं की कड़ी निंदा करता है चूंकि कमिटी के अनुसार नरेगा मजदूरों को न्यूनतम खेतिहर मज़दूरी देने के लिए कोई सम्मोहक तर्क नहीं है. ऐसी राय देकर यह कमिटी 2009 में शुरू हुए न्यूनतम मज़दूरी कानून 1948 के हनन को जारी रख रही है जब सरकार ने नरेगा को न्यूनतम मज़दूरी से अलग कर दिया था.

On 13 October 2017, in a meeting with Secretary, Ministry of Rural Development and other officials from the Ministry, NREGA Sangharsh Morcha strongly objected to the recommendations of the Nagesh Singh (Additional Secretary, Ministry of Rural Development) Committee on the question of minimum wages and indexing to inflation in the National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (NREGA). The Secretary defended the recommendations of the committee on the grounds that NREGA wages can be less than the State Minimum wage due to Section 6(1) of the employment guarantee act according to which “notwithstanding anything contained in the Minimum Wages Act, 1948, the Central Government may, by notification, specify the wage rate for the purpose of this Act”. He promised to send the report to the Morcha, so that it could properly respond. Unfortunately, despite repeated requests, NREGA Sangharsh Morcha has not received the report. The Morcha is therefore issuing this statement on the truncated draft report that it has been able to obtain.