-The Hindustan Times By cancelling licences issued by the UPA government to telecommunications companies in 2008, the Supreme Court has ruled against discretion in the allotment of natural resources like radio frequencies. This is in contrast to the view of this government and that of its predecessor, the NDA, that big upfront costs like spectrum fees, which must be passed on to customers, don’t serve the larger goal of universal telecom...

India is readying to defend its policy requiring companies to source local content for the national solar mission project, a rule that has triggered protests from the US and the EU.  The commerce department is talking to the ministry of new and renewable energy on how to argue its case should the dispute reach the World Trade Organisation. The ministry is responsible for executing the Jawahar Lal Nehru National Solar Mission,...

-The Times of India   Lanco, the company accused by Delhi-based Centre for Science and Environment (CSE) of illegitimately cornering contracts worth Rs 13,000 crore under the Jawaharlal Nehru National Solar mission, has objected to the allegations and said "they were not crosschecked with the company and were wrongly perceived".  In a statement made to TOI, A Narasimhan, senior vice-president (corporate communications), said, "Lanco Group has equity participation in few of the companies...

-The Times of India In one of his most emphatic public statements reaffirming the return of 'equity' in India's climate change stance, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh said global cooperation on climate change "must be based on the foundation of the right to development and the need for an equitable distribution of burden".  Coming days before India makes its submission outlining the frame for a post-2020 climate regime, PM's statement was a closely...

-The Times of India   The SC order said quite clearly that then telecom minister A Raja "wanted to favour some companies at the cost of the public exchequer" and lists seven steps he took to ensure this happened. Here are the steps as the SC saw them:  1. After taking over as telecom minister, Raja directed that all applications received for UAS licences should be kept pending till receipt of the Trai's...