-The Hindu Former Cabinet Secretary Chandrashekhar deposes before JPC The former Cabinet Secretary, K.M. Chandrashekhar’s shocking revelation on Thursday to the Joint Parliamentary Committee (JPC) investigating the 2G scam that Prime Minister Manmohan Singh had ignored his recommendation that an entry fee of Rs. 36,000 crore be charged for spectrum, has brought the ghost of the 2G scam back to the Prime Minister’s doorstep. Mr. Chandrashekhar’s disclosure that he had submitted a note...

-The Economic Times The RTI Act is undoubtedly a historic landmark and has energised sections of our population like nothing else before. But despite its careful crafting and a well-defined machinery to back it, getting those bits of information, which vested interests within the government wish to hide, are an extremely arduous task. Therefore, I was not surprised when my RTI, seeking simple information regarding the number of foreign trips undertaken...

-The Indian Express The government’s proposal to price-control certain drugs will create more problems than it will solve From clothes to cars, prices of consumer products the world over are determined taking into account input costs, margins and competition, popularly called the cost-based pricing system. Departing from this sound, fair, tried and tested principle of commerce, the government’s new drug pricing policy, approved by the Group of Ministers headed by Sharad Pawar,...

-The Hindu The Supreme Court’s unyielding criticism of the government for not eradicating the practice of manual scavenging was the springboard for the Ministry of Social Justice and Empowerment to introduce the Prohibition of Employment as Manual Scavengers and their Rehabilitation Bill, 2012 in the Lok Sabha on September 3. Welcomed as a panacea for the historically iniquitous, caste-ordained practice of manually handling human waste, the new Bill indicates renewed commitment...

-The Economic Times How right was the government when it stated that the under-recoveries posed a threat to 'our national economy'? Or when the government says that it gave more to the sector in the form of subsidies than it earned as fuel taxes? The government would also like you to believe that the under-recoveries, dependent as they are on the price of crude in the international market, and the exchange...