-The Times of India NEW DELHI: With half the state legislatures expected to ratify the Constitution amendment bill to roll out goods and services tax (GST) by early September, the Centre is now moving to the next stage — deciding on the contentious issue of fixing the rates — so that the ambitious reform initiative is in place by April. Sources said the finance ministry is set to hold consultations on the...
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A disaster in the making -A Rangarajan
-Frontline Medecins Sans Frontieres warns that the free or regional trade agreements that are being negotiated, which seek to strengthen current patent regimes, are a potential threat to the developing world’s access to life-saving drugs, which it sources mostly from India. WHEN NELSON MANDELA’S GOVERNMENT passed the Medicines and Related Substances Control Act in 1997 to make medicines more accessible to the poor, 39 big pharmaceutical companies filed law suits in...
More »SC takes note of Centre’s inability to constitute National Disaster Mitigation Fund
-LiveLaw.in The Centre told the Supreme Court bench comprising justices Madan B Lokur and NV Ramana, on August 1, of its inability to comply with its direction regarding constitution of the National Disaster Mitigation Fund. The bench had directed the Centre on May 11 to constitute the Fund in terms of Section 47 of the Disaster Management Act, 2005. The Additional Solicitor General, P.V.Narasimha told the bench that Section 47 has...
More »Goods and Services Tax (GST), explained
-The Indian Express The Goods and Services Tax (GST), the biggest reform in India’s indirect tax structure since the economy began to be opened up 25 years ago, at last looks set to become reality. The Constitution (122nd) Amendment Bill comes up in Rajya Sabha today, on the back of a broad political consensus and boosted by the ‘good wishes’ of the Congress, which holds the crucial cards on its passage....
More »Child labour by other means
-The Hindu The amendments to the Child Labour (Prohibition and Regulation) Act, 1986, passed by Parliament recently, demonstrate a lack of national commitment to abolishing all forms of child labour. Instead of attempting an overhaul of legislation that has proved ineffective in curbing the phenomenon, Parliament has allowed children up to the age of 14 to be employed in ‘family enterprises’, and created a new category of ‘adolescents’ (the 14-18 age...
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