-CNN-IBN The Union Cabinet on Tuesday cleared three major anti-corruption bills – Citizen's Charter Bill, Judicial Accountability Bill and the Public Interest Disclosure and Protection to Persons Making the Disclosures Bill (Whistleblower's Bill) – in a crucial meeting. The Cabinet, however, met amid reports of clearing four crucial bills, including Congress president Sonia Gandhi's favourite, the National Food Security Bill. However, a decision on the Food Security Bill was deferred to next week...

After pushing for financing adaptation at the just-concluded United Nations climate talks at Durban, India is hitting every button for aid in executing its low-carbon growth plans. This despite India (and China) refusing to sign new climate agreements at the U.N. Framework Convention for Climate Change (UNFCCC)’s 17th conference of the parties (COP 17) in the South African city.  India, in fact, has a well-drawn out policy and action plan for climate...

Here's the wonderful thing about the FDI-in-retail debate: never have struggling Indian farmers found so many champions. They've been crawling out of the woodwork. Foreign direct investment in retail may be on hold, but Hillary Clinton can stop worrying about Anand Sharma and Pranab Mukherjee. “How does (Commerce Minister) Sharma view India's current Foreign Direct Investment guidelines? Which sectors does he plan to open further? Why is he reluctant to open multi-brand...

Policymakers have repeatedly said that commodity futures help farmers hedge their risks. But data from Forward Markets Commission (FMC), the regulator for the business worth Rs 106 lakh crore during April-October, paints a different picture. The share of agricultural trade is just a tad over 10% and within this, food products such as soya oil and chana accounted for less than 7% of the total value. Of course, the government itself...

U.P.'s GDP grew at 7.28 per cent in the past five years, but the State ranks low in virtually every area of socio-economic development. IF statistics on gross domestic product (GDP) are the only criteria to evaluate the performance of a government, the Mayawati-led Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) government in Uttar Pradesh will have to be rated as one with highly impressive credentials. For, India's most populous State has recorded a...