-The Hindu   The Parliamentary Standing Committee on Finance has rejected the National Identification Authority of India (NIAI) Bill, which was meant to give a legal backing to the Aadhaar project and its aim of using biometrics to create a unique identity for every resident of India. Sources in the Committee say the Bill has been rejected in its current form on the grounds of the project's high cost, as well as concerns...

A parliamentary committee is set to reject the National Identification Authority of India Bill 2010, inflicting a severe blow to Unique Identification Authority of India chairman Nandan Nilekani and raising doubts about Prime Minister Manmohan Singh's pet project. Former IT czar Nilekani, who holds cabinet minister rank as UIDAI chief, had been keen on the enactment of the Bill so that a statutory National Identification Authority could be established. The Bill,...

-Express News Service   The parliamentary panel studying the Lokpal bill has recommended “appropriate representation” for the weaker sections in the search committee.   The standing committee on law and justice has, however, maintained that the choice of the ombudsman “has to achieve the selection of the best and the brightest at the entry point”. The committee, which adopted its final report this evening, has suggested that the search panel must include “certain sections of...

-Express News Service Chairman of Parliamentary Standing Committee on Law and Justice Abhishek Manu Singhvi has sought a four-day extension for submitting the panel’s report on the Lokpal Bill. Sources disclosed that Rajya Sabha chairman Mohammad Hamid Ansari has asked Singhvi to meet him tomorrow to explain the reasons for the delay. Singhvi, who needs a nod from Ansari because the administrative control of the committee is vested in him, told The Indian...

Aruna Roy-led National Campaign for People's Right to Information (NCPRI) has criticized the exclusion of lower bureaucracy from the draft Lokpal bill terming it as a loss for the common man. It has also demanded that the CBI should be brought out of the administrative control of the government for it to be effective in tackling corruption. The activists have echoed concerns already raised by Team Anna which has demanded...