Congress chief Sonia Gandhi has asked Union food minister KV Thomas to iron out last-mile hurdles in the way of the flagship food bill before it is brought to the Cabinet again on Sunday. A lack of consensus in the Cabinet — which must clear the bill before it can be placed in Parliament — led to it being stalled last Tuesday. The Congress chief, who had overseen the bill’s drafting...

“…the Committee categorically convey their unacceptability of the National Identification Authority of India Bill, 2010…The Committee would, thus, urge the Government to reconsider and review the UID scheme.…” This was the conclusion of Parliament's Standing Committee on Finance (SCoF), which examined the Bill to convert the Unique Identification Authority of India (UIDAI) into a statutory authority. With this categorical rebuff, the SCoF dealt a body blow to the Aadhaar project, which...

Besides taking into account the different viewpoints of parties on modalities of inclusion of the office of Prime Minister in the Lokpal Bill and the scope of the proposed ombudsman over the CBI and the CVC, the Union Cabinet would take into consideration the ‘sense of the House' resolution adopted by Parliament in August committing itself to three specific issues raised by social activist Anna Hazare. On August 27, Parliament urged...

-The Economic Times Finance minister Pranab Mukherjee has said he had directed three institutions - NIPFP, NIFM and NCAER - to come out with a defendable assessment of the quantum of black money stashed away by Indians in foreign banks. Replying to the discussion on the adjournment motion moved in the House by BJP veteran LK Advani on "the situation arising out black money deposited illegally in foreign banks", Mukherjee declared...

-The Economic Times   The extent of control that Lokpal should have over CBI remained a sticky point at the all party meeting here on Wednesday. NDA representatives at the meeting insisted on the investigative independence of the CBI and its complete disassociation from government. The all-party meeting was essentially aimed at hearing out the views of various political parties on the anti-graft body. BJP, Left and BSP insisted that the Bill...