-The Hindu Building ‘capitalism with Indian characteristics’ means decisions cannot ignore concerns of voters and communities As the economy slows down and the rupee wilts, Manmohan Singh has bitten the ‘reforms’ bullet with both eyes on the credit rating agencies whose negative reports have done much to dampen the ‘animal spirits’ of investors, foreign and native. Last November, when the Congress party made a push to introduce foreign direct investment in multi-brand retail,...

-The Economic Times The government is pushing ahead with long-awaited reforms to boost finances of cash-strapped power utilities and to reduce food subsidy by raising the price of sugar in ration shops, but the cabinet meeting to consider these moves has been deferred to next week. Sources said the government was also considering a proposal to increase the dearness allowance for central government employees by about 7%. This should come as a...

-Outlook Seeking a SWOT analysis, the elite National Investigation Agency (NIA) is scouting for firms to monitor media reports of interest to the agency and give a feedback that could help improve its strategies. According to the tender floated by NIA which is available on its official website, firms have been asked to submit their bids by October 4 for "daily media Monitoring" for its Director General and up to the level...

-Economic and Political Weekly  The Government of India is considering a proposal to notify farming as an essential service. This is ostensibly to bring drought relief to farmers suffering from a weak monsoon - a laudable goal indeed. However, if farming is deemed an "essential service", farmers and farm workers could lose many of their political and civic rights because the government can then invoke the Essential Services Maintenance Act to...

-The Times of India PANAJI: Three cases of food poisoning were reported back-to-back last year after students consuming midday meals. This has forced authorities to keep a close watch on midday meal suppliers as well as school staff. The Union human resource development ministry began quarterly Monitoring of the implementation of the midday meal scheme in states and Union territories across the country since June last year. Goa has registered huge improvements...