The Centre is planning a few Amendments to key education reform bills whose legislative progress has been stalled by opposition to several of their clauses. The Telegraph had reported how private educational institutions had been arguing that the “draconian” bills would make it difficult for new colleges and universities to be opened, and would threaten institutional heads with stringent punishment for minor mishaps. Human resource development ministry sources now say they propose...

-PTI Government today told Parliament that prosecution agencies will have to obtain authorisation from it before attachment of properties of corrupt retired public servants. "An official memorandum dated May 13, 2009 was issued laying down procedure for obtaining authorisation of the central government under section 3 of the Criminal Law (Amendment) Ordinance, 1944 for attachment of the money or property procured by corrupt means. "Further, clarifications were issued vide office memorandum dated January...

-The Economic Times The government may be forced to trim its legislative agenda - including pushing through long-pending bills on pensions, insurance and banking - following Congress' debacle in Uttar Pradesh and Punjab assembly elections.  Pension, insurance and banking sector reforms are part of the legislative agenda of the UPA government but BJP leaders told finance minister Pranab Mukherjee at an outreach session that the government should first set its House in...

-The Telegraph   Chief minister Mamata Banerjee has ordered an Amendment to a state law to prevent rural co-operative banks from attaching the land of loan-defaulter farmers without government approval. The directive was issued after Mamata came across two posters by a co-operative bank controlled by Trinamul Congress leaders, which sought to auction the land of farmers who have not repaid loans. “I am assuring my brothers that nobody will go to confiscate your...

-The Hindu   Dr. Manmohan Singh Prime Minister of India March 12, 2012 Dear Prime Minister, We welcome the tabling of a National Food Security Bill in the Lok Sabha as an important step towards the elimination of hunger and undernutrition in India. However, we feel that the Bill in its current form has some serious shortcomings. We are writing to propose a simpler and more effective framework for the Public Distribution System (PDS), which requires...