The government put out a promised new price index on Friday that will capture changes in prices of goods and services sold at the retail level, helping the government and the central bank get a better grip on policy tools while tackling inflation. Central banks world over rely on retail prices while framing monetary policy, but the Reserve Bank of India has had to consider mostly the wholesale price index...

Members of eight major central trade unions and independent workers'/employees' federations will march to Parliament on February 23 to protest against what they call the “indifferent and don't care attitude” of the Manmohan Singh government to the “steep rise in the prices of essential commodities, rampant violation in implementation of labour laws, plight of unorganised workers, and reckless contractorisation of employees.” The Indian National Trade Union Congress (INTUC), trade union wing...

And you thought you could get information from the State using the RTI Act? Take your place in the line behind thousands of frustrated citizens The government is considering changes to the Right To Information Act (RTI) that activists feel could dilute the power of the Act. Former Chief Justice of India K.G. Balakrishnan has recommended protecting the judiciary from RTI queries apparently on grounds that the move would “erode” the...

The debate over food security is becoming an exercise in callow dissimulation, where we devote our energies to ensure that food security remains a mirage. The core objective should be simple. It is a scandal that after two decades of high growth, India still does not make adequate nutrition available to large sections of the population. There is simply no financial, technological or production related reason why this should be...

The director of the Nehru Memorial Museum and Library is governed by civil service rules, the museum has said, putting in the glare Mridula Mukherjee, its director, who was one of the historians to work for the Congress. The reply to the Right to Information panel by the museum stated that all the employees were governed by the Central Civil Services (Conduct) rules. The rules cited by the museum prohibit “any government...