A Parliamentary Standing Committee on Finance is set to recommend that the government withdraw the National Identification Authority of India Bill 2010, reports India Today, citing unnamed sources. The recommendation is to withdraw the bill and introduce another one, because members of the standing committee found the project directionless, and that the bill and the project are not acceptable in their present form, the report states. It doesn’t quite mention...

Health care in India, at its finest, matches the standards of international best practice. The knowledge, skill and confidence of its doctors and nurses, the sophistication of available technology, quality of service and five-star hospitality compete with the best in the world. Its relatively low cost has made it an important player in the health tourism sector. However, at the other extreme, publicly funded health care services often do not...

-The Business Standard   The to-do over retail FDI signals that the political class is anti-reform The political drama over the opening up of the retail sector to foreign investment is significant, not on account of whatever might happen to the immediate issue, but for what it says about the prospects of any kind of economic reform. In and of itself, the opening up of the retail sector is not hugely important, except...

Conceding a major Team Anna demand, the parliamentary committee examining the Lokpal Bill has decided to recommend that 57 lakh "Group C" central government employees - or the entire lower bureaucracy - be placed within the ambit of the anti-corruption ombudsman.  In a controversial decision, the panel also decided to exclude the prime minister from the Lokpal's jurisdiction as long as he holds office. This was at its final meeting to...

-The Times of India   Given the debate that's raging over opening the retail sector to foreign direct investment, we bring you the government's view, the opposition's objections and TOI's take on the issue. Government argument * Huge investments in the retail sector will see gainful employment opportunities in agro-processing, sorting, marketing, logistics management and front-end retail. * At least 10 million jobs will be created in the next three years in the retail sector. *...