-The Times of India NEW DELHI: The government has revived plans to put e-commerce players on a tight leash, including imposing checks on discounting and unbridled cashbacks and Freebies, in a bid to clamp down on “predatory behaviour”. Sources told TOI that the commerce and industry ministry is looking at ways to strengthen the e-commerce sector while safeguarding the interests of domestic retailers. Many of them are complaining about serious loss of...

-Financial Express It is the season of promising Freebies to lure voters. Congress leads in these promises. It has promised a loan waiver in Chhattisgarh within 10 days of coming to power; and the hiking of minimum support price (MSP) of paddy to Rs 2,500/quintal, up from Rs 1,750/quintal, a 43% raise over the already increased MSP of paddy. In Madhya Pradesh, it has promised a loan waiver of up to...

-The Indian Express Manifesto pledges to raise farmers’ incomes and increase MSPs take away focus from the structural reforms that are urgently required. It is a season of promising Freebies to lure voters. The Congress leads in making these promises. The party has promised to waive farmers’ loans in Chhattisgarh within 10 days if it is voted to office. It has also promised a hike in minimum support price (MSP) of...

-The Telegraph New Delhi: The income tax department has allowed referral kickbacks paid to doctors by private hospitals, nursing homes and diagnostic centres and spending on advertisements by doctors as expenses despite such expenditure being disallowed and unethical, a parliamentary panel said on Thursday. The public accounts committee for the Union finance ministry's department of revenue has cited an audit that found that in 19 instances in eight states, income-tax officers had...

-The Tribune Agrarian society vs a non-agrarian economy poses a huge political challenge. JUST how many farmers are there in India? This is not merely a statistical question. This is a question of policy and political significance. We have all grown up reading about India as an agrarian economy, with a majority of its population engaged in farming. Does that continue to be the case? Or has the number of farmers declined...