-The Times of India The Planning Commission may drop reference to crony capitalism in the plan document after protests from some ministers who are of the view that any mention would be a tacit acknowledgment of the existence of the practice. Besides, it has suggested "transparent auction" of natural resources as the solution, something that the government is not willing to accept as the one-size-fits-all approach for all sectors. Apart from crony capitalism,...

-The Times of India Chief Justice of India (CJI) S H Kapadia on Saturday joined the debate on the CAG's estimate of "windfall gains" for private players in the coal block allocation scam, suggesting such assessments may not be accurate. "People should be educated on economics as well to understand that these irregularities should be understood from the point of loss, which was a matter of fact, and not from profit angle,...

-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 Hindu The CAG has a lot of explaining to do on the methods used to reduce the loss it estimated in its draft report Comptroller & Auditor General Vinod Rai, who has maintained a dignified silence despite being in the government’s line of fire for his controversial report on coal, now has no choice but to break his silence. On Thursday, he appears before the Public Accounts Committee (PAC) where he is...

-The Indian Express Mining in India has come a long way in the last 50 years or so. From the Industrial Policy Resolution of 1957 to the National Mineral Policy (NMP) of 1993, and now to the NMP of 2008, it has shown a progressive shift towards bringing the Private Sector into exploration, mining and downstream value addition. However, the regulatory systems perhaps never managed to keep pace with developments on...