To lose bank guarantees for its four power plants in Rajasthan The Union Ministry of New and Renewable Energy (MNRE) has found Lanco Infratech guilty of false commissioning of solar power plants in Rajasthan. The company will now lose its first set of bank guarantees for the remaining four solar photovoltaic plants in Rajasthan. It has already lost bank guarantees of three other plants being set up in the state after...

One man’s fiscal problem is another man’s lifeline. Trigger happy bureaucrats and economists may love shooting down subsidies because it bloats the fiscal deficit and burdens the government but the simple fact is that in a one billion strong nation, in which nearly one in every three live below the poverty line, one needs an effective and efficient method through which privileged tax payers can support the poor. Last week, finance...

-The Times of India The Supreme Court on Tuesday criticized the Centre's "casual approach" during the hearing on appeals challenging a Delhi High Court verdict diluting Section 377 of the Indian Penal Code to decriminalize consensual gay sex between consenting adults in private. The ministries of home affairs and health had opposed dilution of Section 377 before the HC but accepted the verdict and did not appeal against it in the apex...

Token relief to individual taxpayers will cost the exchequer Rs. 4,500 crore In a “pragmatic and domestic growth-oriented” budgetary exercise aimed at shoring up investor confidence and investment, Union Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee on Friday sought to tap indirect taxes, especially service tax, to rake in an additional Rs. 45,940 crore into his kitty. Presenting the budget for 2012-13 in Parliament, Mr. Mukherjee provided a token relief to individual taxpayers that will cost...

-The Economic Times The Opposition, acting in sync with the Trinamool Congress, a component of the ruling UPA at the Centre, on Wednesday scored a victory in the Rajya Sabha when it got the government to commit itself to the passage of the Lokpal and Lokayukta Bill in the House in the "first half of the budget session itself.'' "We want to bring the bill within this part of the session,'' parliamentary...