-The Times of India   Terming the government's attempt to allow foreign direct investment in multi-brand retail as a miscalculation that lacked political consensus, BJP leader Yashwant Sinha has warned that a looming slowdown needs urgent measures to remove supply side blockages. The former finance minister, who heads Parliament's standing committee on finance, said unlike in 2008, the government has no room to increase the fiscal deficit that is already above 5% while...

-The Indian Express   Pitching for changes in laws to deal with corruption, the Prime Minister's Chief Economic Advisor Kaushik Basu has said bribe-givers should not be penalised in case he has to pay money for getting the work done. In his revised paper to deal with corruption, Basu argued bribe giver could be penalised only if he or she benefits from government contracts. But in that case too, the penalty for bribe...

-The Telegraph The CPM today described the operation that led to the killing of Kishan as an “achievement’’ on the Trinamul government’s part but added that it was made possible by the administration’s “course correction’’. “The Trinamul government was initially against the deployment of joint forces in Jungle Mahal. That provided a fillip to the Maoists, who gradually began regrouping in various parts of West Midnapore and Purulia,’’ CPM state secretariat member...

Antony, Jairam and Virbhadra say it will hit small retailers badly The United Progressive Alliance government pushed through the proposal to permit 51% FDI in multi-brand retail and 100% foreign equity in single-brand trading on Thursday, in the face of vigorous protests not just from the Opposition and ally Trinamool Congress (TMC), but also disquiet in a section of the Congress. Following up on this, the Congress Core Group met here on...

The suggestion has been made in a note to the cabinet committee on UID project headed by Prime Minister Manmohan Singh The Planning Commission has recommended that the unique identity (UID) programme’s beneficiaries such as public sector banks, insurance companies, state governments and welfare programmes pay for the enrolment of people since the benefits to them will outstrip the costs incurred. The suggestion has been made in a note to the cabinet...