The Left Front has started mobilising the support of non-NDA and non-UPA parties to garner support against the Congress-led UPA government's move to push its economic reforms agenda with three much-delayed financial sector legislations. The Left Front will reach out to regional parties, including AIADMK, Samajwadi Party, Janata Dal (Secular), Biju Janata Dal and Asom Gana Parishad, to gather numbers against the legislations. Despite reservations expressed by UPA ally Trinamool Congress,...

The Samajwadi Party's resounding victory in the Uttar Pradesh assembly polls is certain to add more heft to the Federal Front - the alliance of non-Congress, non-BJP chief ministers put together by West Bengal chief minister Mamata Banerjee.  Mulayam Singh Yadav's party was handed a decisive mandate by the electorate, and it will not have to be dependent on Congress, or any other party for its survival.  The snub by voters in...

Central pension plan NPS finally gets a boost The ‘New’ NPS     Measure: Improve incentives for distributors. Has been recently implemented.     Impact: Was required. But won’t be enough, need consumer education to build volumes.     Proposal: Increase fund management fees with an option to lower later.     Impact: Under consideration. But finance ministry unhappy with increase in costs.     Proposal: Relax the norms to appoint more fund managers to increase distribution.     Impact: Unlikely. At...

-Express News Service The government will introduce the Citizens’ Charter Bill in the Lok Sabha on Tuesday, Parliamentary Affairs Minister Pawan Kumar Bansal said on Monday. Once introduced, the legislation, called The Right of Citizens for Time-Bound Delivery of Goods and Services and Their Redressal, will be referred to the Parliamentary Standing Committee. The move for a separate Bill dealing with the issues covered under the Citizens’ Charter of Team Anna had been...

-The Times of India   Taking a swipe at the BJP for not backing FDI in retail, finance minister Pranab Mukherjee on Thursday said the government was only trying to nurse the main opposition party's "baby" when it took the decision to allow FDI in retail.  Replying to a debate in the Rajya Sabha on price rise, Mukherjee read from a 2004 interview of leader of opposition Arun Jaitley in which the senior...