-The Hindu   ‘Had market-using reforms been used in auctioning spectrum, the scam would not have arisen” Batting for removal of licence regime to tackle corruption, noted economist Jagdish N. Bhagwati on Thursday said the auction of 2G spectrum in 2008 would have averted the telecom scam. He lauded the Congress-led United Progressive Alliance (UPA) government for bringing out anti-corruption legislation and asked the civil society to make suggestions and not impose solutions. “High-level...

The ministry of rural development has decided to challenge a Karnataka high court order that directed the government to pay minimum wages to MG-NREGA workers. The court order had led to a tussle within the government over whether the order should be challenged or not. While rural development minister Jairam Ramesh, who is monitoring the UPA flagship aam-admi scheme, spoke against challenging the order, finance minister Pranab Mukherjee advised him to...

-The Hindu   Members of various trade unions in the private and public sectors, affiliated to 11 major central trade unions, will stage a countrywide strike on February 28, 2012 against the ‘anti-labour' policies of the UPA-II government. The Railways will be exempted from the protest. G. Sanjeeva Reddy, president of the Indian National Trade Union Congress (INTUC), affiliated to the Congress, told journalists here on Tuesday that despite various demonstrations by the...

-The Telegraph   The Centre has reached an agreement with the BJP to pass a bill on pension reforms in the next “two or three” days, according to a cabinet minister. It has also been working on UPA partner Trinamul Congress, which is opposed to the bill. The BJP agreed after the government gave in on two of its demands related to the legislation, the Pension Fund Regulatory and Development Authority Bill, 2011. One was...

-The Business Standard   The new Bill will set back the cause of food security - while wrecking central finances. The Food Security Bill cleared by the Union Cabinet for introduction in Parliament seems irrational and impractical by parts. It seeks to provide a statutory right to highly-subsidised food for 75 per cent of the rural population, with 46 per cent in the “priority” category, or below the poverty line (BPL); and to...