-Outlook The Income Tax Department today said it is investigating cases of black money holders on the basis of information furnished by foreign countries and will initiate prosecution proceedings wherever required. The department has taken a similar action against those individuals who figured in the LGT bank accounts list. "These cases are spread across the length and breadth of the country according to the Assessing Officers (AO) having jurisdiction. "They (AO) are quasi-judicial authorities...
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75% of Parliament time wasted, second worst session clocked-Himanshi Dhawan
-The Economic Times The monsoon session that ends on Friday will enter the hall of shame as the second least productive session of the 15th Parliament with legislators having worked for only a quarter of the scheduled time. Only four bills were passed in the month-long session leaving a backlog of more than 100 pending legislations, some as old as 25 years old. According to data analysed by PRS Legislative Research, Lok Sabha...
More »A battle half won -TK Rajalakshmi
-Frontline A study finds that institutional support alone cannot help reduce maternal mortality in India. THE high rate of maternal mortality in India has been a cause for national concern, especially on account of the focus on reaching the United Nations’ Millennium Development Goals by 2015. Although there is a growing realisation that it will be difficult to meet the MDG targets by that deadline, there is a renewed interest in the...
More »Setting limits -V Venkatesan
-Frontline The Central government notifies new RTI rules, which effectively curb citizens’ right to obtain information. ON July 31, the Central government notified new rules to implement the Right to Information Act, 2005. The rules will come into force once the Central government tables the notification in Parliament and both Houses of Parliament agree to it. The Department of Personnel and Training (DoPT) has not published these rules on its website as...
More »A Bill that asks too much of the poor-Jean Drèze & Reetika Khera
-The Hindu Instead of rigid targeting, the government must build on the success of the public distribution system which is quietly becoming a significant means of social support In earlier writings, we have drawn attention to the quiet revival of the public distribution system (PDS) in many States during the last few years. Market prices of PDS commodities — mainly rice and wheat — have sharply increased, giving people a much greater...
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