Almost a month ago, when the Jayalalithaa-appointed state expert panel gave a clean chit to the Kudankulam Nuclear Power Project (KKNPP), Firstpost had stated that the agitation was practically over. It was only a matter of time before the protesters were either asked to vacate the plant site or were forcibly removed. Since then, the PMANE (People’s Movement Against Nuclear Energy) and the local struggle committee were essentially waging a losing...

The Centre on Friday informed the Supreme Court that appropriate steps would soon be taken to amend the Employment of Manual Scavengers and Construction of Dry Latrines (Prohibition) Act, 1993 to eliminate manual scavenging. Additional Solicitor General Harin Raval told a Bench of Justices H.L. Dattu and C.K. Prasad that necessary amendments would be introduced in the monsoon session of Parliament. The ASG also assured the court that the government would...

Parliament has the power and jurisdiction to clarify, enact law or bring amendments to a law with retrospective effect to remove the basis or defects in a judgment, say legal experts. Under the proposed amendment to the Income Tax Act announced by Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee in the budget, to come into effect from April 1, 1962, all persons, resident or non-resident, having business connection in India will have to incur...

-The Business Standard In Budget, reformers win, NAC loses The consensus opinion that has developed about the 2012-13 Budget presented by Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee on Friday is that it was unambitious, especially in terms of reworking government spending. It delivered little in terms of a vision for reform, the argument goes, constrained as it was by the spending-hungry allies in the United Progressive Alliance (UPA) and the entitlement-hooked Congress leadership. A...

As the biotech industry takes heart from the prime minister’s remark, a fresh report shows India’s regulation and expertise on GM crops are sloppy BUOYED by the prime minister’s remark that NGOs were responsible for the moratorium on the release of GM or Bt brinjal, the biotech industry is stepping up its campaign to get it lifted along with “all constraints in the research and development work of biotech crops”. It...