The discretionary powers of ministers and bureaucrats will either be shelved or severely curtailed. Tasked to draft a national policy on government procurements, a group of ministers (GoM) headed by finance minister Pranab Mukherjee feels that abuse of discretionary powers plays a major role in fostering corruption, be it procurement of rice or purchase of aircraft. With the total government procurement - from the Centre to panchayat level - worth a huge...

The Congress-led United Progressive Alliance (UPA) government on Wednesday introduced the politically crucial land acquisition Bill in the Lok Sabha, less than two months after the ministry of rural development began drafting it. The National Land Acquisition and Rehabilitation & Resettlement Bill, 2011, aims to address rehabilitation and resettlement (R&R) by providing safeguards for both landowners and livelihood losers while clearly defining the “public purpose” for which land can be acquired...

-IANS   Rural Development Minister Jairam Ramesh on Wednesday said the draft land acquisition bill is a "political bill which strikes a balance between social benefit and economic growth" and gave the "entire credit" for it to Congress general secretary Rahul Gandhi. Referring to the recent agitations over land acquisition in parts of Uttar Pradesh, Ramesh said Rahul Gandhi made "key contributions" in the draft Land Acquisition and Rehabilitation and Resettlement Bill,...

-The Hindu   In a bid to tackle rampant corruption in procurement of items, the government on Tuesday announced that it would bring in a Bill to deal with the issue even as a Group of Ministers set up to tackle corruption adopted a report which recommended means to make the procedure more transparent. The comprehensive public procurement law to clearly demarcate powers and responsibilities of various authorities and ensure full transparency to...

-The Times of India   The government plans to bring forward legislation to implement key transparency measures in procurement, exploitation of natural resources and electoral reform in the Winter session of Parliament. A meeting of the group of ministers (GoM) on corruption on Tuesday evening decided to move forward on anti-graft measures that it has been considering for some time now. The Vinod Dhall and Ashok Chawla committee recommendations on procurement and natural...