-The Hindustan Times With the pressure off on the government for setting up the lokpal, the law ministry has joined its various counterparts and departments in opposing many key provisions of the anti-graft bill, rendering its future uncertain. Interestingly, the ministry had drafted and given legal clearance to the bill, passed by the Lok Sabha on December 27, 2011. It has conveyed its views to the Rajya Sabha select committee, which is examining the...

-The Hindustan Times Although some detailed exposés of India’s nefarious role in purchasing or leasing agricultural land in other countries — notably in Africa — have been surfacing in the last few years, the full picture of what some critics term a land grab and new form of colonialism has only emerged during the Rio+20 environmental meet in June. The Washington DC-based think tank, the Worldwatch Institute, released a report based...

-The Business Standard State must get out of insulin price-setting The National Pharmaceutical Pricing Authority, or NPPA, has turned down the request of drug companies to raise insulin prices. Domestic insulin-makers Biocon and Cadila had argued that the cost of production and packaging had become higher, and multinational corporation Eli Lilly wanted the depreciation in the rupee vis-à-vis the dollar to be factored into the price. The NPPA says it has...

-The Hindustan Times The government has shielded its officials from harassment by anti-corruption sleuths but left the private sector at the mercy of the police under a proposed anti-BRIbery law targeting the private sector. The home ministry’s proposed amendment to the Indian Penal Code (IPC) criminalises BRIbery amongst individuals, trusts and firms and prescribes a maximum jail of 7 years for the guilty. But it gives the police a free hand to...

-The Indian Express The Reddy brothers’ iron grip on Bellary has come undone. Mining baron Gali Janardhana Reddy is already in jail. In the most severe blow to the family since his arrest, his younger brother Somasekhara Reddy has now been detained for questioning by Andhra Pradesh’s Anti-Corruption Bureau for allegedly BRIbing a CBI judge in Hyderabad to grant bail to Janardhana Reddy. Friday’s “catch” — it has not yet been declared...