-IANS The government wants to plug leakages in the public distribution system (PDS) before it implements the ambitious National Food Security Bill and has asked states to complete the process of computerisation of data on beneficiaries by October this year. The proposed law, a pet project of United Progressive Alliance chairperson Sonia Gandhi, aims to give legal right to cheaper foodgrain to 63.5 per cent of the population. According to a senior official...

By repeatedly decrying the CAG and trying to malign the person occupying that Constitutional office, the UPA government is weakening an important pillar of democracy and lowering its own credibility Admitting that there is a great deal of uncertainty and a perception of policy paralysis in the government these days, a senior Cabinet colleague of the prime minister recently observed that it was being created by the activities of (Comptroller and...

People with income below taxable limit need not furnish Permanent Account Number (pan), the Karnataka High Court ruled. The High Court order came as a relief to thousands of individuals who are asked to provide pan despite having income below the taxable limit. Section 206 AA of the Income-Tax Act, which became effective from assessment year 2010-11, makes it mandatory for every person to furnish pan in their transactions with...

-The Hindustan Times Bollywood star Aamir Khan had two simple prescriptions for a Parliamentary committee to reduce high health costs for citizens. First, make doctors prescribe generic medicines rather than brands. Second, set up a regulator to ensure big pharmaceutical don’t take over smaller ones and monopolise the medicine market. Khan and his team were invited on Thursday by the Parliamentary Standing Committee on Commerce headed by BJP MP Shanta Kumar, which...

-The Hindu Today marks seven years of protests against the Posco project June 22 marks the seventh year of the struggle against the Posco project in Odisha. It was on this day in 2005 that the Odisha government and the South Korean steel company signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) for what was stated to be the single biggest case of foreign investment in the country. Though the government has acquired over...