-The Economic Times The government has made key changes to the proposed legislation for land acquisition, making it more attractive for industry by easing some of the stringent conditions, a person privy to the draft told ET. The rural development ministry has proposed to not implement the legislation with retrospective effect, besides relaxing the requirements of consent from landowners, and tightening the definition of market value. The amended Bill has been rechristened 'The...

-The Business Standard State must get out of insulin price-setting The National Pharmaceutical Pricing Authority, or NPPA, has turned down the request of drug companies to raise insulin prices. Domestic insulin-makers Biocon and Cadila had argued that the cost of production and packaging had become higher, and multinational corporation Eli Lilly wanted the depreciation in the rupee vis-à-vis the dollar to be factored into the price. The NPPA says it has...

-The Times of India That Indian Railway Catering and Tourism Corporation (IRCTC)'s e-ticketing facility has not kept pace with the rise in demand is evident from the large number of failed transactions. Approximately 35 lakh transactions in June 2012 and almost 37 lakh attempts in May 2012 could not materialize due to the huge rush to book railway tickets online. To top it, there are several cases where a ticket is...

The much awaited results of the National Sample Survey have once again spilled the beans about India’s effort in fighting poverty. The provisional results of the 68th Round of National Sample Survey (NSS) of household consumption expenditure (which is often taken as a proxy for income) finds that the average monthly per capita expenditure (MPCE) at current prices in urban areas (Rs. 2401.68) is 1.87 times more than the average...

-The Hindu It is shocked to hear that bodies are cut into pieces and disposed of for lack of money   The Supreme Court on Friday expressed shock at the inhuman disposal of the bodies of widows, who lived in government shelter homes at Vrindavan, by chopping them into pieces on the plea of lack of money for proper cremation. A Bench of Justices D.K. Jain and Madan B. Lokur directed the Uttar Pradesh...