With the Parliamentary Standing Committee on Finance raising a red flag against the National Identification Authority of India (NIAI) Bill to grant the UID (or Aadhar) project legal status, the project looks set for a slowdown . That could have broad implications for the tech sector that had laid substantial hope on it, especially when global markets are slowing down.  The UID project is estimated to offer IT companies a Rs...

A Parliamentary Standing Committee on Finance is set to recommend that the government withdraw the National Identification Authority of India Bill 2010, reports India Today, citing unnamed sources. The recommendation is to withdraw the bill and introduce another one, because members of the standing committee found the project directionless, and that the bill and the project are not acceptable in their present form, the report states. It doesn’t quite mention...

Despite criticism of the appointment process, and pendency , the Supreme Court appears to enjoy public confidence like no other institution As the Supreme Court of India approaches its final week of hearings for the year, a look back shows it has dominated the national consciousness by ruling on myriad issues. The court was conceived by the framers of the constitution to deal mainly with fundamental questions of law. But India’s top...

A parliamentary committee is set to reject the National Identification Authority of India Bill 2010, inflicting a severe blow to Unique Identification Authority of India chairman Nandan Nilekani and raising doubts about Prime Minister Manmohan Singh's pet project. Former IT czar Nilekani, who holds cabinet minister rank as UIDAI chief, had been keen on the enactment of the Bill so that a statutory National Identification Authority could be established. The Bill,...

Compensation will be paid before land takeover The new relief, rehabilitation, and resettlement package drawn up for those providing land for development initiatives in the State has been armed with provisions for substantive compensation, due stakeholder participation, and a social impact assessment, wherever needed. The focus of the package, prepared by the Revenue Department, is on providing a reasonable compensation to project-affected persons (PAPs) and disbursing it before taking possession of the...