UPA-II's plans to replace the existing fertiliser subsidy regime with direct cash transfers to farmers will be delayed as the fertiliser ministry is likely to scrap an intermediate phase where the subsidy was to be rerouted from companies to retailers this summer. This puts paid to the fertilizer industry's expectation that very soon it would be out of the subsidy mechanism which locks up precious working capital. "We are rethinking the original...

-The Economic Times   At a time when the highway sector is showing signs of revival, a fresh controversy has come to haunt the road transport and highways ministry, with World Bank demanding a probe into "fraudulent and corrupt" practices by Indian contractors working on highway projects funded by the Bank. World Bank's Institutional Integrity Unit has sent a detailed report to the Department of Economic Affairs under the finance ministry, which has...

Despite the high-theatrics rollback of the Railway Budget, the government is confident of being able to push ahead with the reforms agenda. Despite the high-theatrics rollback of the Railway Budget, the government is confident of being able to push ahead with the reforms agenda. In an e-mailed post-Budget interview, Union finance minister Pranab Mukherjee took questions from Outlook’s Lola Nayar and Sebastian P.T. Edited excerpts: The government has managed to get UPA...

A Union Home Ministry's proposal for amendments to the Armed Forces (Special Powers) Act is pending with the Cabinet Committee on Security (CCS), P. Chidambaram said on Saturday, a day after the United Nations Special Rapporteur asked India to repeal the law, arguing that it had no place in a democracy. Answering questions at his monthly press conference, he said his Ministry had sought three amendments. “These pertain to three sections…” He...

 It was UPA 1's winning mantra. But the Rs 33,000 crore a year rural job guarantee scheme may be floundering with the government admitting the flagship programme suffers from delayed payments, poor awareness, lack of durable assets, faulty job cards and muster rolls.  The finance ministry has echoed some of the major criticisms of the Mahatma GandhiNational Rural Employment Guarantee Actlisting endemic "lack of awareness about rights and entitlements" and inability...