-The Indian Express Report finds govt did not recover dues of Rs 750 cr from distributors. At a time when the opposition BJP plans to intensify protests against power tariff in Delhi, the Comptroller and Auditor General (CAG) of India's report for the 2011-12 fiscal has slammed the Delhi government for not recovering dues to the tune of Rs 750 crore from private distribution companies. The report, tabled on Tuesday in the Delhi...

-PTI The condition of government hospitals in Delhi drew a sharp criticism from Comptroller and Auditor General (CAG), which, in its report found several glaring shortcomings like unavailability of blood banks in five hospitals. The CAG today painted a sorry state of affairs at government hospitals in the national capital in its report for the fiscal year ending March 2012, which was tabled in Delhi Assembly. The government auditor said that scrutiny of...

-The Financial Express Leading economists who fear that the cost of the food security law on the exchequer would be much higher than estimated by the government have a seemingly unlikely ally - farmers' groups. A couple of national-level farmers' organisations have opposed the National Food Security Bill, saying it would "lead to nationalisation of agriculture by making the government the biggest buyer, hoarder and seller of foodgrains". Farmers' representatives from a...

-The Indian Express The annual subsidy bill for the UPA’s proposed food guarantee law has been estimated at Rs 1,24,747.1 crore, 38.6 per cent over the budgeted food subsidy of Rs 90,000 crore for next year. An alarmed finance ministry is learnt to have red-flagged some major changes proposed in the original National Food Security Bill, sources said. It has objected to the proposal to do away with the original categorisation of beneficiaries...

-The Hindu Since 2005-06, taxes and duties for the corporate world and the rich have been written off at the rate of Rs.7 million a minute on average. Duties waived on gold and diamonds in the last 36 months equal the 2G scam amount Forbes has just added an “errata” to Union Finance Minister P. Chidambaram’s budget speech. The Minister had found a mere 42,800 people in the country with a taxable...