-The Business Standard If Mr Vadra had to count his friends in the real estate business, they would be Corporation Bank, the Haryana government and DLF  Robert Vadra, who is at the centre of a controversy over his property dealings with realty giant DLF and others, began investing in real estate five years ago, in 2007-08. He was already a wealthy man by then, not a struggling businessman who could scrape only...

-Mainstream Weekly Intense and motivated propaganda, powerful national and international diplomatic pressure, verging on pure and simple arms-twisting of the kind the Third World has been facing for decades by means of the active role of the econo-mic hit-men in the policy establishments, huge cash-back lobbying, both in India and abroad, blunt attempts to bamboozle the persons holding key positions in India’s policy establishment through a combination of hissing and kissing...

-The Hindu Property empire was built on soft loans handed out in unusual circumstances, documents show In February, as rumours of the ambitions of Congress president Sonia Gandhi’s son-in-law swirled amidst the heat and dust of the election campaign in Uttar Pradesh, her daughter Priyanka moved to scotch speculation about Robert Vadra’s possible political future. “He’s a successful businessman,” the younger Ms. Gandhi said of her husband, “who is not interested in changing...

-The Indian Express Ten kilometres from Jodhpur city, on a sultry afternoon under a flapping tent, a baby girl is born to Sadhu and Radha. People crowd around and peer into the tent to congratulate the couple. Someone in the crowd says, “The first Indian among us, she should be named Bharati.” The suggestion is met with nods of approval and cheers of “Bharati”. Over the last one month, the makeshift tent...

-The Hindu In its report on the road map to fiscal consolidation, the three-member committee headed by the former Finance Secretary and 13th Finance Commission Chairman, Vijay L. Kelkar, has suggested a host of “bold reform” measures on ways of slashing the subsidy bill which, it admitted, would result in some short term pain and hardships. The committee’s recommendations also include sale of surplus land with public sector undertakings (PSUs), fast-tracking of...