-Hindustan Times Election Commission of India (ECI) is outgunned when it comes to confronting those who circumvent existing campaign finance rules and lacks power to sanction candidates. It is a truism to note that political finance sits at the heart of corruption in modern India. While politicians publicly lament the status quo, they privately profit from the current system. Therefore, the fact that the Narendra Modi government has made reforming political finance...

-The Hindu The amendment to the Right to Education Act will only undermine its intent The legislation to amend the Right to Education Act to give States the power to detain students who fail an examination in Class 5 or 8 is a negative measure. Although many States want such a change, the amendment passed by the Lok Sabha goes against the view of many educationists, who argue that it would weaken...

  A document of the Ministry of Statistics and Programme Implementation (MoSPI) dated 25th June, 2018 says that the number of members subscribing to the Employees' Provident Fund (EPF) scheme gives one an idea of the level of employment in the formal sector viz. mostly employment in establishments employing 20 or more persons (though EPF is applicable for certain organisations, which employ less than 20 persons, subject to certain conditions and...

-The Hindu Business Line Controversial ‘bail-in’ clause had unnerved bank depositors New Delhi: The government has decided to drop the controversial Financial Resolution and Deposit Insurance (FRDI) Bill, thus allowing bank customers to breath easy. The Union Cabinet, which met on Wednesday, decided to drop this Bill, a senior Cabinet Minister told BusinessLine. This means the present system of insurance deposits will continue and customers will not have to worry about the ‘bail-in’...

-The Times of India MUMBAI: The government has prematurely withdrawn a scheme under which shopkeepers would get an incentive of up to Rs 1,000 for accepting payments using the Unified Payments Interface (UPI). Another one providing customers cashbacks of up to Rs 500 has also been withdrawn and replaced with a scheme that provides rewards of up to Rs 150 but only for Bhim app users. The move to withdraw the incentives...