-TheWire.in Legislative action that prIMArily looks at cattle mobility as ‘acts of smuggling cattle out of state for slaughter’ is deeply misguided and betrays a misunderstanding of how India’s cattle have been bought and sold since the British Raj. Like many poorly drafted laws, the recently notified Livestock Markets (Regulation) Rules is so pre-occupied with its self-righteousness that it fails to realise the harm that it would cause. If the colonial era’s...

-Observer Research Foundation The Modi government needs to urgently revisit the opaque and draconian cattle trade rules. n the wake of a number of well-publicised incidents of lynching and mob violence, most of them related to issues surrounding cattle trade or beef consumption, a narrative — Lynchistan — has taken hold that there’s been a spike in the incidents of lynchings and mob violence. In one telling, such violence has increased after...

-The Hindu Business Line Asim Dasgupta, who was Finance Minister of West Bengal for 24 years, was probably the only CPI(M) member who attended Saturday’s event at the Central Hall of Parliament, on the eve of the GST’s launch. In fact, Dasgupta was Chairman of the Empowered Group of State Finance Ministers which prepared the first formulation of GST laws in 2009. He spoke to BusinessLine on the new indirect tax regime,...

-Livemint.com Going by official statistics, there was a marked increase in the number of crimes committed against women in India in 2013—compared to the previous year, the number of crimes against women increased by a whopping 27%. However, before we jump to the conclusion that the number of crimes against women saw a significant increase in 2013, we need to look at the context. In December 2012, a woman in Delhi was...

-The Hindu It’s complex than elsewhere both in terms of number of rates and jurisdictions The form of Goods and Services Tax being implemented from July 1 is uniquely Indian, according to former Planning Commission member and former Chairman of the National Statistical Commission Pronab Sen. In an interview to The Hindu, he says the indirect tax regime will make it easier to start a new company, but increases complexity for those...