Indian traders reject FDI in multi-brand retail and emphasise the need for a policy to regulate the labour-intensive sector. TRADERS across the country responded angrily to the Union Cabinet's decision to allow 51 per cent foreign direct investment (FDI) in multi-brand retail trade, disproving the arguments of the United Progressive Alliance (UPA) government and the assessment of corporate India, which had tried hard to make it appear that traders and...

The wait to know whether your child's school admission is confirmed just got longer. Many city schools have put admission on hold, thanks to the confusion prevailing over some provisions of the Right to Education (RTE) Act. The landmark law, which guarantees every child education, has also made it mandatory for all schools, including private institutions, to set apart 25% of their seats for the under-privileged. Though it was passed in...

In U.P., where 70 per cent of the people depend on agriculture, FDI in retail does not produce any cheer. ON a misty Monday morning in early December in Muradnagar, a small town in western Uttar Pradesh, numerous tractors and trucks, loaded with jaggery and driven by farmers themselves, lined up in front of the smallest grain mandi (market) of the region. With unusual patience, the drivers waited for their...

-The Indian Express   The All India Muslim Personal Law Board and Muslim clerics have sent several delegations to the Human Resource Development ministry and even threatened to start an agitation if madrasas are not kept out of the Right to Education Act’s provisions. That apart, a delegation of Congress leaders, led by Digvijaya Singh, today urged Prime Minister Manmohan Singh to exempt minority education from the ambit of the Right to...

-Live Mint The news that a parliamentary committee has rejected its proposed Bill must come as a jolt to the Unique Identification Authority of India (UIDAI). Reports say that the committee was concerned about duplication with the National Population Register (NPR), the technology, data protection, and the cost. This comes closely on the heels of the home ministry’s contention that UIDAI does not meet the “degree of assurance” required for NPR,...