The formal notification allowing exports of 5 million tonnes of rice and wheat under the open general licence (OGL) will not specify separate cap for cereals, but the government will monitor exports to ensure a ceiling of 2 mt for wheat and 3 mt for rice. "We have had problems earlier with the courts on specification of quantity ceiling under OGL exports and on specific allocation of export quantities to exporters....

The discretionary powers of ministers and bureaucrats will either be shelved or severely curtailed. Tasked to draft a national policy on government Procurements, a group of ministers (GoM) headed by finance minister Pranab Mukherjee feels that abuse of discretionary powers plays a major role in fostering corruption, be it Procurement of rice or purchase of aircraft. With the total government Procurement - from the Centre to panchayat level - worth a huge...

The government's auditor has accused Mukesh Ambani's Reliance Industries Ltd of violating terms of the contract for its showcase Andhra offshore acreage and expressed doubt over the costs at which India's biggest private sector oil company contracted goods and services for bringing the largest gas discovery into production. The Comptroller and Auditor General's final report on a special audit of Reliance's Krishna-Godavari basin fields, presented to Parliament on Thursday, also suggests...

-The Hindu   In a bid to tackle rampant corruption in Procurement of items, the government on Tuesday announced that it would bring in a Bill to deal with the issue even as a Group of Ministers set up to tackle corruption adopted a report which recommended means to make the procedure more transparent. The comprehensive public Procurement law to clearly demarcate powers and responsibilities of various authorities and ensure full transparency to...

The flawed Bill on food security has not received the kind of publicity that the Lokpal Bill has, but that does not diminish its significance. “THIS government has divided everything and everyone. There are different cards for different sections of the poor. If my employer, taking pity on me, gives me an old television, I am not entitled to a yellow card [Below Poverty Line card]. My son who is...