Home minister P. Chidambaram has set a two-year deadline for completing the National Population Register (NPR). In a release today, his ministry said the register was “likely to be” completed by March 2014, the statement coming a day after the Union budget announced that the Aadhaar platform was ready to support payments for projects like the rural job scheme. Aadhaar, a project of the Planning Commission, is the unique number meant for...

West Bengal is likely to simplify restrictive laws on land ownership, making it easier for industrial estates to sell surplus land. The state’s land ceiling laws cap private ownership of land at 24 acres, and there were restrictions on transfer of land held under exemption from the threshold. The new policy, which is expected to be ratified by the state cabinet on Friday, would allow companies to transfer even leasehold land given...

It is common for government agencies to come up with reasons for not supplying information sought under the Right to Information Act (RTI). Now, the state civil supplies department has come up with a googly. Responding to a RTI query, it told the applicant, "pay us money so that we can hire people to find out the information you seek."  The applicant, M Thirumani of Padikuppam Road in Anna Nagar, filed...

-PTI Government today told Parliament that prosecution agencies will have to obtain authorisation from it before attachment of properties of corrupt retired public servants. "An official memorandum dated May 13, 2009 was issued laying down procedure for obtaining authorisation of the central government under section 3 of the Criminal Law (Amendment) Ordinance, 1944 for attachment of the money or property procured by corrupt means. "Further, clarifications were issued vide office memorandum dated January...

In a landmark decision, India’s intellectual property office on Monday allowed Hyderabad-based Natco Pharma Ltd to make and sell a copycat version of German drug maker Bayer AG’s patented cancer treatment Nexavar. It’s the first time that an Indian company has been granted the so-called compulsory licence to market a generic version of a patented drug. The drug, patented by Bayer in India in 2008, is used in the treatment of...