The thrust of my argument is not “clear,” alas, even to a person of Neeladri Bhattacharya's perspicacity. It is not “to declare illegitimate the arguments against government action on the recent textbook controversy”: I have explicitly criticised the “government action” in a collective public statement (The Hindu, May 17, 2012). But I oppose the view, frequently articulated in the media, that Parliament's jurisdiction must not extend to questions of curricula and...
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High Court issues notices to Centre on PIL against petrol price hike
-MoneyLife.in Citing lack of uniformity in the prices of petrol, the petitioner said that in Thane, the price per litre is Rs81.70, while it is as low as Rs58.06 in Port Blair, Rs81.75 per litre in Bengaluru and Rs73.18 in Delhi The Bombay High Court on Monday issued notices to Centre, Ministry of Petroleum and Natural Gas and Finance Secretary, besides three oil marketing companies on a public interest litigation (PIL), which...
More »RBI, finance ministry differ over rural bank branches-Sangita Mehta
The Reserve Bank of India, RBI, and the finance ministry seem to have differences on the way banks should go about ensuring financial inclusion. While both the regulator and the ministry are passionate about providing banking services at low cost to the disadvantaged, a difference of opinion between the two has confused bankers. Recently, the finance ministry told banks that every business correspondent outlet should be converted into an ultra-small branch....
More »The austerity of the affluent-P Sainath
A rural Indian spending Rs. 22.50 a day would not be considered poor by a Planning Commission whose Deputy Chairman's foreign trips between May and October last year cost a daily average of Rs. 2.02 lakh Pranab Mukherjee's stirring call for austerity tugs at the national tear ducts. Prime Minister Manmohan Singh has pleaded for it in the past and watched his flock embrace it creatively. With the Finance Ministry even...
More »Govt moots one-time tax amnesty to recover black money stashed abroad
-The Times of India The government's white paper on black money, tabled in Parliament on Monday, listed a one-time tax amnesty to recover funds stashed abroad and a gold deposit scheme for locals as possible ways to deal with the menace, while suggesting that individuals get the tax department's go-ahead for all property deals and face undue scrutiny on cash in their possession. It also called for setting up of independent regulators,...
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