An internal enquiry by the ministry of external affairs into the dubious manner in which sub-standard gifts for foreign dignitaries were acquired by its protocol division is being conducted at a leisurely pace by the ministry’s vigilance department. The enquiry, which has been going on for the past two months, is yet to pin responsibility on the officials behind the scam that took place in contravention of proper procedures and in...
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Indian bureaucracy rated the worst in Asia
-PTI Indian bureaucracy is the worst in Asia with a 9.21 rating out of 10, according to a report by a prestigious consulting firm based in Singapore. India fared worst than Vietnam (rated at 8.54), Indonesia (8.37), Philippines (7.57) and China (7.11), said the report released today by Hong Kong-based Political & Economic Risk Consultancy Ltd. Singapore remained the best with a rating of 2.25, followed by Hong Kong (3.53), Thailand (5.25) Taiwan...
More »Govt dicusses regulation of real estate with stakeholders
-PTI Issues concerning the regulation and development of real estate were discussed today by the government with various stakeholders including representatives of state governments, industry associations, consumer welfare groups, and technical and legal experts. The Ministry of Housing and Urban Poverty Alleviation, headed by Kumari Selja, held consultations here with stakeholders on Real Estate (Regulation and Development) Bill, 2011 on which the government had invited suggestions from the public a few months...
More »Every breath you take by Bharati Chaturvedi
Yesterday was the last day of the Auto Expo 2012 in New Delhi. It should have been the first day of ending our obsession with cars and instead, realise what this fascination is doing to our insides. Over a decade ago, Delhi was a heroic city. It had successfully reduced air pollution by shifting buses and three-wheelers from diesel to CNG. But now, Delhi's residents are choking again. Recently, this paper...
More »Setback to UID by Usha Ramanathan
The Parliamentary Standing Committee on Finance finds the UID project to be “conceptualised with no clarity” and “directionless”. THE Parliamentary Standing Committee on Finance has dealt a body blow to the Unique Identification (UID) project. The Unique Identification Authority of India (UIDAI) was set up under the Planning Commission by an executive order on January 28, 2009. The scheme involves the collection of demographic and biometric information to issue ID numbers to...
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