-The Economic Times   The Congress-led government has tried to reach out to Other Backward Communities (OBCs) by drastically relaxing the definition of 'creamy layer' and including those with an annual income of Rs 12 lakh in metros eligible for job reservations. The eligibility level in non-metros will be an annual income of Rs 9 lakh.  The existing ceiling for this is an annual income of 4.5 lakh. The National Commission for Backward...

The govt has thus rejected the recommendation of the parliamentary standing committee on finance that the 26% FDI cap be a part of the Bill The CABinet on Wednesday cleared amendments to the Pension Fund Regulatory and Development Authority Bill, 2011, capping the overseas investment limit in the sector at 26%, but retaining the flexibility to raise this limit by stating that it would not form a part of the legislation. The...

-The Indian Express   Bihar is ready with the draft for a new Lokayukta Bill, which it plans to finalise by November 26 before getting it passed in the winter session of the Assembly. It is the second state, after Uttarakhand, to have prepared or reworked its Lokayukta laws before the Centre haspassed a Lokpal Bill. Unlike the Bihar Lokayukta Act, 1973, the new law will bring the chief minister under the Lokayukta’s...

Sivadasan's five-acre farm used to be a solitary patch in Kerala's Palakkad district, with bitter gourd, cucumber, cow peas and lady's finger growing amid a landscape dotted with paddy fields and plantations of rubber and spices.  Just five years later, more than 1.45 lakh farmers in the southern state have joined Sivadasan and started growing vegetables, reflecting a palpable shift sweeping across the Indian countryside.  "Vegetables are always more profitable than paddy,"...

In this Idea Exchange moderated by Senior Editor Archna Shukla, I&B minister Ambika Soni speaks about self-regulation by the media, empowering the Press Council of India and the Congress party’s stand on corruption Archna Shukla: There is a growing perception that the government is unhappy with media criticism. The editor of a leading English daily publicly claimed that government advertisements have been stopped to his publication. Is the government being vindictive? I have...