-Business Standard The governor did not give specific answers on who initiated the note ban New Delhi: Unsatisfied with the responses of Reserve Bank of India (RBI) Governor Urjit Patel to specific queries on demonetisation, the Public Accounts Committee (PAC) of Parliament on Friday asked him to furnish written replies to the concerns expressed by the members within two weeks and appear before the panel again. Patel, along with Deputy Governor R Gandhi...

-TheWire.in Re-promulgation of ordinances is illegal, the apex court ruled, in a judgment that will be applicable to all central ordinances, including demonetisation. Thanks to a recent Supreme Court judgment declaring the re-promulgation of ordinances unconstitutional, the government’s effort to validate demonetisation through ordinances may come to naught. The Specified Bank Notes (Cessation of Liabilities) Ordinance, promulgated in December to give effect to demonetisation, faces the risk of becoming unconstitutional if re-promulgated after...

-The Economic Times Members of the Parliamentary Standing Committee on Finance on Wednesday criticised Reserve Bank of India Governor Urjit Patel for his inability to answer queries related to demonetisation. "Patel was unable to tell us how much money has come back to the banks," said Saugata Roy, TMC MP. "The governor was unable to tell us that how much old currency has come into the banks," added Saugata Roy. Sources also quoted...

-The Indian Express Governments are making Aadhaar mandatory in contravention of court orders One reason for the controversy surrounding the Aadhaar project is the pending litigation against it in the Supreme Court. The cases draw on substantive critiques, including exclusion and deprivation caused by the usage of Aadhaar in provisioning essential services such as the PDS and MGNREGA, breaches of individual privacy and threats to national and individual security in the way...

The Bharatiya Janata Party's (BJP) election manifesto for 2014 Lok Sabha election says that if elected to the Centre, it will then "(p)ut in place welfare measures for farmers above 60 years in age, small and marginal farmers and farm labours", among other things. Despite the formation of a BJP led National Democratic Alliance (NDA) government at the Centre in 2014, the latest available data on farm suicides from the...