-The Times of India NEW DELHI: At a high-level meeting chaired by law minister Kapil Sibal recently, it was proposed to set up a study by an Indian Institute of Management or a reputed law school to evolve a scientific method of performance appraisal for judges so that laggards are not bundled with performing judges, particularly when they are considered for elevation to the higher judiciary. The matter was discussed at a...

-Economic and Political Weekly   The current groundwater crisis in Punjab is a combination of paradoxical consequences - extreme depletion in some areas and water logging in others. This paper provides a brief description of the contours of the crisis and pinpoints possible reasons for its emergence in failures of policy as well as implementation. It also proposes a package of approaches as part of a paradigm shift for Punjab that can...

-The Times of India As the clock ticks towards the general elections in a few months time, a major crack appears to be opening up in the government. The mandarins of finance ministry - presumably with the sanction of finance minister P Chidambaram - have proposed huge cuts amounting to over Rs 20,000 crore in spending on popular flagship schemes like the employment guarantee scheme, the rural housing scheme, the village...

-The Business Standard Oil minister says Parikh report sound but government has to take realities into account; to proceed with Direct Benefits Transfer in 291 districts from January despite SC order Union petroleum minister M Veerappa Moily said there'd be no raising of the present cap on the number of subsidised cooking gas (LPG) cylinders a household was entitled to in a year. In the wake of severe electoral reverses for the ruling...

-The Indian Express The price of LPG has been hiked by Rs 3.46 per cylinder because of the the increase in the commission of the dealers. The hikes comes after the government accepted a recommendation for increasing the commission paid to dealers by over 9 per cent. The Petroleum Planning and Analysis Cell, the fuel pricing arm of the Oil Ministry, had recommended raising the commission paid to dealers by Rs 3.46...