-The Times of India The UPA-1's Rs 52,000 crore farm loan waiver scheme is turning out to be a big financial scandal. Out of 1 lakh farm loan waiver accounts audited in 700 bank branches across the country — involving disbursement of Rs 500 crore — about 30% of the waiver amount was allegedly found to have been siphoned off by a nexus of bank managers and microfinance institutions (MFIs). A comptroller...
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Army’s stand makes it hard to amend AFSPA: Chidambaram-Sandeep Joshi
-The Hindu Union Finance Minister P. Chidambaram on Wednesday stressed the need for making the controversial Armed Forces (Special Power) Act (AFSPA) a more “humanitarian” law, but asserted that the Union government could not move forward as there was “no consensus” between the Army and the government on the issue. “The Army has taken a strong stand against any dilution of the AFSPA… We can’t move forward because there is no consensus. “The...
More »China pledges to narrow income gap
-Al Jazeera Widening wealth gap in Beijing has stoked concerns over its impact on political and social stability. The Chinese government has issued a pledge to narrow the widening income gap between rich and poor, which includes raising its minimum wage and requiring state companies to turn over more profits to pay for social programmes. The pledge on Tuesday promised more spending on health, education and job training but gave few details and...
More »Verma panel recommendations negated: CPI(M)-Aarti Dhar
-The Hindu The All India Democratic Women’s Association (AIDWA) too objected to the "selective and arbitrary approach" of the Government to the recommendations. The Communist Party of India (Marxist) has denounced the ordinance which the Union Cabinet issued on Friday to curb sexual violence against women. When Parliament was to convene for the Budget session in three weeks, the promulgation of the ordinance ran counter to democratic norms, a statement issued by the...
More »Moving to the House -Upendra Baxi
-The Indian Express On the Delhi rape case, let’s keep the indignation, disturb legislative slumbers The Verma Committee Report (VCR) speaks against civil society and political rape cultures. The poignancy and urgency of the VCR owes much to the experience of conversing with rape survivors and traumatised children. A precious message of the VCR is this: one may not take law reform seriously without taking human and social suffering equally seriously. The committee...
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