-The Indian Express After being taken to the streets, rallies and TV studios, FDI in retail is finally being discussed in Parliament. This may be a debate forced upon the government with the threat of persistent parliamentary obstruction, and submitting executive policy to voting in the House may be an extraordinary step that could be routinised at the system’s peril. But it is illuminating, nonetheless, to see the play of perspectives...

-Outlook A scheme to credit kerosene subsidies to beneficiaries’ accounts flopped real big in Rajasthan Dharamvir Chaudhary’s fair price shop in Kot Kasim, Rajasthan, is deserted. A year ago the tehsil played host to an experiment by the government: residents were asked to buy kerosene—a fuel most of India’s poor use to cook and light lamps—at market price (Rs 50 a litre) from shops like Dharamvir’s. People were promised that the...

-Deccan Herald Cash transfer for public schemes is a “terrible lie”, said activists at a meeting held at Jantar Mantar on Wednesday. Communist Party of India (Marxist) leader Brinda Karat said that if one compared India with African countries, India would beat them in terms of poverty. “The government is not willing to tax business tycoons and is making the common man suffer by cutting down subsidies,” she said. Karat added that her...

-PTI A blanket ban on manufacture, sale, storage and use of plastic bags with stiff penalty against violators including imprisonment up to five years will come into effect in New Delhi on Friday. The government has now imposed the ban as per provision of the Environment (Protection) Act, 1986, under which violators could face imprisonment up to five years and fine of up to Rs. 1 lakh or both. "The ban on plastic...

-The Economic Times Retail sector liberalisation has been revived and included in Prime Minister Manmohan Singh's package of big-bang reforms announced recently. This was to be expected as an element of the package since the influential minister Jairam Ramesh, who has access to Sonia Gandhi and is identified with her NGO-dominated set of advisers whose knowledge of economics is outweighed by their enthusiasm, had already announced his conversion to retail sector...