-The Indian Express An RTI query filed by The Indian Express with the MoEF revealed that the Animal Welfare Board of India (AWBI) was questioned as early as June of 2016 over its jurisdiction to draw up federal guidelines to regulate animal markets. New Delhi: Fifteen months before the controversial cattle trade rules were withdrawn by the Centre, questions were raised internally during the framing stage on whether the central government was...

-TheWire.in The Centre's decision to defer the Right to Information (Amendment) Bill 2018 – after protests from the public and the opposition – is temporary good news. Sub-section (5) of Section 13 of the Right to Information Act provided that the salaries and allowance and other terms and conditions of service of the chief information commissioner and information commissioners shall be same as that of the chief election commissioner and election commissioners,...

-The Hindu Business Line Controversial ‘bail-in’ clause had unnerved bank depositors New Delhi: The government has decided to drop the controversial Financial Resolution and Deposit Insurance (FRDI) Bill, thus allowing bank customers to breath easy. The Union Cabinet, which met on Wednesday, decided to drop this Bill, a senior Cabinet Minister told BusinessLine. This means the present system of insurance deposits will continue and customers will not have to worry about the ‘bail-in’...

-Livemint.com WHO says the Indian govt should ‘reconsider’ the compensation clause because an approval to the rules in the current form would affect the conduct of clinical trials in India New Delhi: The World Health Organization (WHO) has told the central government that the United Nations (UN) agency’s work with India would be “hampered” and drug companies driven away if the government goes ahead with stringent draft rules for compensation in case...

-The Hindu The GST’s faulty design has prevented the economy from benefiting fully from the indirect tax regime A year ago, at a special midnight session in Parliament, the launch of the goods and services tax (GST) was heralded as the new freedom. A year on, what has the GST achieved? ? One should not expect instant results. There will be many short comings when a complex reform is rolled out. But...