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...

-The Times of India   Facing complaints over government officials dealing with lawmakers, the government has put in place a code of conduct of sorts which deals with everything from rising to receive and see off an MP, besides inviting MPs to public functions.  To begin with, the office memorandum from the department of personnel and training has asked officials to acknowledge receipt of a letter within 15 days and reply within the...

-Express News Service   The parliamentary panel studying the Lokpal bill has recommended “appropriate representation” for the weaker sections in the search committee.   The standing committee on law and justice has, however, maintained that the choice of the ombudsman “has to achieve the selection of the best and the brightest at the entry point”. The committee, which adopted its final report this evening, has suggested that the search panel must include “certain sections of...

-The Hindu   Move to give more teeth in combating corruption In a move envisaged to give more teeth in combating corruption, the Bihar Assembly on Wednesday passed the Bihar Lokayukta Bill, 2011 by voice vote. State Parliamentary Affairs Minister Mr. Vijendra Prasad Yadav tabled the Bill which was subsequently taken up for voting by the Speaker Mr. Uday Narayan Chaudhary, following deliberations by legislators from the ruling and Opposition parties. “We have drawn up...

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,...