-Live Mint Flexible labour laws in India cannot solve the problem of weak job growth and the poor quality of employment  The theme of the World Bank’s World Development Report this year is, appropriately enough, jobs. The report recognizes that creating jobs is the surest way of reducing inequality and poverty, particularly in the developing world. But the cliché it offers as a solution is disappointing: relax labour laws. The bank has...

-The Business Standard If the Cabinet clears the proposed policy, the Department of Pharmaceuticals would have to notify this before the SC?s next hearing on the matter on Nov 27 The Cabinet is likely to take up the proposed National Pharmaceutical Pricing Policy tomorrow, government sources said. The policy is aimed at capping the prices of 348 essential medicines at the weighted average of all drugs in a particular segment, with...

-The Times of India Private Companies have hijacked the government's flagship scheme to provide food to poor children and their mothers, the Integrated Child Development Scheme (ICDS), with contractors in Maharashtra alone controlling Rs 1,000 crore worth of supplies in contravention of Supreme Court orders, a report of the SC commissioners office has said. The SC orders bar contractors from supplying rations under the scheme. It only permits village communities, self-help groups...

On November 23, the Supreme Court is slated to hear a damning report submitted by the court-appointed Commissioners on how politically connected contractors—legally barred from the ICDS program—might be subverting the social welfare measure in the state of Maharashtra.  The ICDS is an Rs 8000 crore government-funded program aimed at ending India’s abysmal rates of child malnutrition by supplying hot cooked meals and take home rations to children through decentralised women-run,...

-Outlook Mumbai: To ensure that both private and state-run power distributors abide by the renewable purchase obligations (RPOs), the Union Ministry of New and Renewable Energy has called for amendments to the Electricity Act. "We have realised that some private Companies and state discoms are not complying with the RPO. To make it mandatory, we have proposed an amendment to the Electricity Act," joint secretary Tarun Kapoor told reporters on the sidelines...