-The Hindu The wretched outcome of the 2G spectrum auctions, netting just Rs.9,407.64 crore against a Rs.40,000 crore revenue target, has evoked predictable reactions from the Congress party. Its leaders have indirectly mocked the Comptroller and Auditor General, the Supreme Court and the media for tying the government’s hands — instead of expressing concern about the impact of the failed auctions on investor confidence and India’s worrying fiscal deficit. Their gloating...

-The Times of India The government plans to put on auction the circles that went without bids in the just concluded sale of 2G Mobile phone spectrum, by March 31, telecom minister Kapil Sibal said on Friday. The "intent" is to have the auction of spectrum in four circles, including Delhi and Mumbai, before the end of the fiscal, Sibal told a news conference. Blaming sensationalism for collapse of the country's telecom growth...

-The Indian Express  Attributing "sensationalism" over the CAG's presumptive loss figure of Rs 1.76 lakh crore for the "killing" of the telecom sector, the government on Friday said it plans to auction by March-end the circles that were not taken in the flopped sale of Mobile phone spectrum this week. It also rejected Opposition allegations that government was celebrating the failure of the auction and said notwithstanding the poor response, it will...

-Outlook Telecom Minister Kapil Sibal today said Department of Posts and state-run BSNL should waive-off fees charged on money transfers by people in the Below Poverty Line (BPL) category, under the Mobile Money Transfer Service launched today. "I would urge the two departments, as a first step before revising the transaction cost... To ensure that BPL category people, when they send money, do not pay transaction cost at all," Sibal said while...

-The Hindu Kerala’s Kudumbashree network and the rural employment guarantee scheme have converged to provide a unique model of empowerment An incredible story of empowerment has been unfolding in the wake of the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme (MGNREGS) programme in the State of Kerala. This is the story of how a socially engineered convergence of the scheme with panchayati raj institutions and the State sponsored community network of poor...