-The Hindu     Haryana IAS officer Ashok Khemka submits 100-page report to government Ashok Khemka, the Haryana IAS officer who cancelled a land deal mutation between Robert Vadra and real estate giant DLF Universal Ltd last October, has told the Haryana government that Mr. Vadra falsified documents and executed a series of sham transactions for 3.53 acres land in Shikohpur village of Gurgaon, thereby pocketing a hefty premium on a commercial colony licence...

-The Economic Times Over a year ago, I had written a piece, Quo Vadis, Indian Pharma? (ET, May 11, 2012), in this column. Some key issues were highlighted in the article. Perhaps it is time to revisit the subject and bring out some current issues. Price control: Hurray, the department of pharmaceuticals has come out with a new non-intrusive price control methodology, moving from the cost-based model to the average market price...

-The Business Standard The new price caps for 191 essential drugs are likely to introduce serious distortions in the market for these medicines The National Pharmaceutical Pricing Authority, or NPPA, has announced new price caps for 191 essential drugs that are 10 to 50 per cent lower than the current prices. Drug makers have 45 days to recall the earlier batches and send out new ones with the lower price tags. This...

-The Telegraph The Centre today submitted in the Supreme Court a "draft model rule" to restrict sale and purchase of acid in the country following the rising number of attacks on women by criminal elements and jilted lovers. Under the draft rules, the sale of acid will be restricted to industrial use, battery dealers, school/college chemical labs and hospitals. It will be obligatory for all buyers to furnish their photo identity and...

-Frontline Corruption tends to be greater in periods when there is a state-engineered redistribution of wealth in favour of a few at the explicit or implicit expense of the many. Liberalisation is one such period. IT cannot be verified and may not be true. But, the view that the record of graft and corruption during the two-term, nine-year rule of the United Progressive Alliance (UPA) is the worst in India's post-Independence...