-Hindustan Times Sebi and some of the other regulators initially opposed the plan, citing concerns about loss of autonomy, but the government wants to go ahead with its plan, and finalise the transfer before the next budget is presented on February 1, 2020. New Delhi: The government is pushing ahead with its plan, underlined in Union Budget 2019, to transfer 75% of market watchdog Securities and Exchange Board of India’s (Sebi) surplus...

-Hindustan Times Indian democracy is robust. The balance is good for the polity The Jharkhand election, in which a coalition of the Jharkhand Mukti Morcha (JMM)-Congress-Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) has succeeded in dislodging the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) government, is a reflection of a broader pattern in national politics. For one, it shows, yet again, that the BJP is vulnerable at the state level — and Narendra Modi’s popularity at the...

-Hindustan Times Jharkhand is a mandate of the poor, for their rights The verdict for the Jharkhand assembly is, first and foremost, a verdict in favour of a new localism, and is a reflection of people’s voice overwhelming the arena of state elections in India. One key issue, which helps frame the meaning of the verdict, is the struggle of adivasis against purported amendments to their land rights by the Raghubar Das-led Bharatiya...

-Hindustan Times Article 14 of the Constitution is not limited only to reasonable [actually rational] classification. What is important is that the rational classification must have a reasonable nexus with the object sought to be achieved by the legislation, says Justice Lokur Justice Madan Lokur, a former judge of the Supreme Court, says the proviso to the definition of illegal immigrant in the amended citizenship act is unconstitutional if one agrees with...

-Hindustan Times The suggestion is to come up with a standard rate of 17%, a lower merit rate for items of common consumption and a higher rate on luxury and sin goods, according to these officials who spoke on the condition of anonymity. The Fifteenth Finance Commission (FFC) has suggested the Goods and Services Tax (GST) Council to simplify tax rates by creating just three slabs, two officials with direct knowledge of...