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,...

The FDI in retail debate has apparently fully traversed the realm of reason and for it seems to have degenerated into name-calling. I had intimation of this when a diplomat who meets me from time to time asked me if I was being put up, for a price, by Indian corporate interests to stymie the entry of the big western firms like Wal-Mart and Carrefour? I can well imagine the...

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...

Has India done a China to its trade partners? Against huge opposition and popular discontent over the years, the Cabinet last week cleared 51 per cent foreign direct investment (FDI) in multi-brand retail and allowed 100 per cent FDI in single-brand retail. The move appears crafty in that it tries to change the perception of a reform impasse in the government while simultaneously aiding India’s negotiators to meet their peers...

Watching the recent debate on the poverty line has been a depressing experience. As the debate unfolded, we witnessed self-righteous commentators engaged in a game of one-upmanship to prove that no one was more concerned for the poor than they, electronic media failing in its responsibility to inform the public simple facts and the Planning Commission proving itself incapable of communicating in simple terms the rationale behind its proposal either...