-PTI Tamil Nadu chief minister J Jayalalithaa has expressed her "vehement objection" to the National Commission for Human Resource for Health (NCHRH) Bill, 2011, saying it "undermines" the powers of the state governments.  The Bill, now referred to the Standing Committee on Health and Family Welfare by the Rajya Sabha, effectively puts the leadership and decision making process with regard to medical, dental and paramedical education in the "hands of about 25...

The time has come for optimal pricing of water and power to prevent an unlimited pumping of groundwater and aid better coordination amongst competing demands for the scarce resource, Prime Minister manmohan singh said here on Tuesday. Dr. Singh's observations come at a time when there is a debate on the pricing of water and privatisation of services in the sector. The Ministry of Water Resources is working on a reforms-oriented...

-PTI   The Cabinet on Wednesday approved a bill that seeks to regulate government purchases of above Rs 50 lakh through a transparent bidding process. The Cabinet meeting, chaired by Prime Minister manmohan singh, approved the public procurement bill that has a provision to debar bidders found engaged in corrupt practices, sources said. Currently, there is no overarching legislation governing public procurement by the central government and central public sector enterprises. The General Financial Rules,...

-Express News Service Terming the existing institutional and legal structures of water management in the country as “inadequate”, Prime Minister manmohan singh on Tuesday advocated for “urgent” reforms and batted for an “overarching national legal framework” for the governance of the sector.   Inaugurating India Water Week, which will be celebrated in April every year from now, Singh said: “One of the problems in achieving better management is that the current institutional and...

-The Hindu The Communist Party of India (Marxist) has called for legal measures to protect the rights of Bengalis from erstwhile East Bengal (now Bangladesh) and a solution through judicial process to the problem of suspected foreigners living illegally in Assam. In a resolution adopted at its 20th party congress that concluded here on Monday, the party urged the government to honour the Prime Minister manmohan singh's promise of sympathetically considering the...