-The Hindustan Times Finance minister P Chidambaram’s grand plan to redefine how the Centre spends its funds through state governments is facing stiff opposition from within, pushing the Planning Commission to seek the cabinet’s views on the proposal. The Centre disburses billions of rupees to states for achieving national developmental goals, but its effective use remains an area of concern. Though the Planning Commission had suggested reforms, Chidambaram — in a...

-The Times of India The Supreme Court on Friday stayed all proceedings before the Delhi High Court relating to 20 petitions by 2G spectrum scam accused, including former telecom minister A Raja, DMK MP Kanimozhi and others who had challenged the trial court's decision to frame charges against them. Appearing for the CBI, senior advocate K K Venugopal informed a bench of Justices G S Singhvi and K S Radhakrishnan that though...

-The Business Standard The consequences of unplanned growth in Haryana real estate One of the positive consequences of the recent focus on the dealings between companies owned by Robert Vadra and the real estate giant DLF is that the unregulated nature of the Haryana land market has become a topic of discussion. Mr Vadra’s companies’ purchases of additional land and apartments were funded from the windfall gains that accrued after a 3.5...

-MoneyLife.in If you were wondering why most of the recent major cases of corruption have not been exposed by opposition parties, especially the BJP, now you have the answer: they are all in it together. I am ready for any inquiry,” repeated Nitin Gadkari on every television channel where he brazenly defended the dubious shell companies and land allotment that propelled the growth of his ballooning ‘social entrepreneurship’. The irony is that Nitin...

-The Times of India Rehabilitation of the illegal iron ore mining-ravaged environment in Bellary, Chitradurga and Tumkur districts of Karnataka will need Rs 30,000 crore over the next 30 years, the Supreme Court has been informed. Submitting a report detailing the plan of action for rehabilitation of the environment, the central empowered committee (CEC) said, "The project period is planned to be 30 years and the current financial year (2012-13) has been...