On the face of it, the Supreme Court order of May 15 directing all states to ensure that jugaad vehicles do not ply unless they are registered with the regional transport authorities and have third party insurance needs to be welcomed.
Servicing the rural market will be difficult, since it will not be as lucrative as the urban one. Pic:Wikipedia Commons
Jugaad vehicles are those makeshift, rickety contraptions powered by irrigation pump motors that pass for public transport in many rural areas of north India. It doesn’t require a Supreme Court order to make one realise that these are extremely risky to the life and limb of its passengers. The Court’s order will have the effect of getting them off the roads. Read more
Source : www.firstpost.com
Prime Minister Manmohan Singh signals shift, dwells on need to improve employment conditions
NEW DELHI: Faced with a spectre of abandoned or stalled infrastructure projects, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh made a major intervention to revive India's core sector investments on Thursday by initiating work on a new law to resolve disputes in public contracts being executed on a PPP or public private partnership basis.
Across sectors such as power and highways, infrastructure builders have been hit by a double whammy of delayed clearances and an escalation in the cost of raw materials like coal. Nearly Rs 15,000 crore of infrastructure developers' dues are locked in disputes with the government in the highways sector alone. Read more
Source : economictimes.indiatimes.com
There is no injunction on balance 520 million shares offered by the government
Bhubaneswar : The Calcutta High Court today restrained the state government from altering shareholding pattern in Haldia Petrochemicals Ltd (HPL) to the extent of disputed 155 million shares.
Gavel image via Shutterstock
HPL chairman and state industries minister Partha Chatterjee said that the high court ordered stay on the 155 million shares only and this would not stall the stake sale process of WBIDC. Read more
Source : www.business-standard.com
NEW DELHI, INDIA: The Supreme Court Thursday said no person would be arrested under Section 66A of the Information Technology Act (IT Act) for posting objectionable comments on social networking websites, in case there is no prior approval from an officer of the Inspector General of Police-rank.
A SC bench passed the order after hearing a plea the arrest of an activist under Section 66A
The apex court's vacation bench of Justice B.S. Chauhan and Justice Dipak Misra passed the order after hearing a plea by one Shreya Singhal, who had petitioned the court against the arrest of an activist, Jaya Vindhyalaya - who has since been released - under provisions of the IT Act on a complaint filed by an Andhra Pradesh MLA. Read more
Source : www.ciol.com
Rajahmundry: The rapid urbanisation in the last decade has paved way for more construction activity, particularly in urban and in adjacent areas to municipalities.
Picture for representational purpose only.
It is said that deviations are said to be playing a very key role from the original plan approved and in some cases this activity is being carried out as there is no fear of action on the part of the authorities. It is learnt that personal interests of some of those at the helm is leading to continuation of this mode unabated. Read more
Source : www.deccanchronicle.com
New Delhi : Six months after he made a comeback to the union council of ministers, Congress leader Shashi Tharoor has said that his stint as the minister of state for HRD has turned out to be "frustrating."
Unable to realise even a single educational reform he had planned since he took over, Tharoor told that the country’s education system has become the biggest casualty of constant disruption of the Parliament sessions. Read more
Source : www.dnaindia.com
Kolkata: West Bengal is planning to start a social security scheme for depositors and investors to ensure proper return of public money following the Saradha chit fund mess, Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee said in Kolkata on Wednesday. "In the wake of growing financial insecurity, we are thinking of a social security scheme. It will ensure proper safety of public money and ensure safe and proper return. We will shortly put out a proposal on the website of the finance department to seek public comments," Banerjee told reporters in Kolkata.
Mamata said that after seeking public opinion, the government will finalise the scheme and subsequently pass a law.
She said that after seeking public opinion, the government will finalise the scheme and subsequently pass a law. "When there is a people's government, it has accountability towards them. People have been subjected to atrocities by these chit funds," she said. Read more
Source : ibnlive.in.com
Minister for Municipal Administration and Urban Development M Maheedhar Reddy on Monday directed GHMC Commissioner MT Krishna Babu to gather information on regularisation of outsourced jobs/employees from the APSRTC, Singareni, Tourism, Endowments and other government departments.
M Maheedhar Reddy, Municipal Administration Minister
The Minister, who held a meeting with the Commissioner and recognised union members to settle the issues of the employees’ union in his chambers, said the government would extend support to solve the problems of the employees which are legally bound. Read more
Source : newindianexpress.com
The court cautioned the Indian government and the Nuclear Power Corporation of India Ltd to find safe areas to dispose of the nuclear waste which the plant would be generating.
The court observed that nuclear energy is extremely important for the country's growth and a balance has to be struck between the right to life and sustainable development. Source: Press Photo
The Indian Supreme Court on Monday gave its much-awaited clearance for the Kudankulam Nuclear Power Plant project (KNPP) in THE southern Indian state of Tamil Nadu being built with Russian help. Today’s judgment has come on the 630th day of Protests over the alleged not-up-to-the-mark safety features of the plant.
However, the court, while disposing of a public suit which sought the court’s direction to halt the commissioning of the plant on safety concerns, attached a rider. The court cautioned the Indian government and the KNPP’s operator Nuclear Power Corporation of India Ltd (NPCIL) to find safe areas to dispose of the nuclear waste which the plant would be generating. “Don’t commission the plant before final report on safety aspect is out,” the Supreme Court expressly directed in its judgment. Read more
Source : indrus.in
The Supreme Court says the government has "shaken the entire process" by asking the Central Bureau of Investigation to interfere in the coal scam. The court says "our first exercise will be to liberate the CBI from political interference".
All political parties benefit from the misuse of police powers. So, none is keen on reform, though all pay lip service to it.
Many of us will cheer the prospect. But the CBI chief has said, correctly, that the CBI is part of the government, not independent of it. This enables the government to keep misusing the CBI to protect friends and persecute foes. More than court strictures, we need statutory change to overhaul the entire police structure. Read more
Source : economictimes.indiatimes.com
Calls proposed amendment discriminatory against Indian IT companies
New Delhi : In a fresh row over the US' H-1B and L-1 visas for Indian professionals, the government has slammed that country, terming its newly-proposed immigration reform plan "discriminatory" against Indian information technology (IT) firms.
In a strongly-worded letter to new US Trade Representative Michael Froman, Commerce Secretary S R Rao has voiced the concerns of India, which feels the proposed law is protectionist in nature and against healthy competition. The letter also alleges the new Bill, called the H-1B and L-1 Visa Reform Act of 2013 and put forward by a bipartisan group of Senators to overhaul the US immigration system, is "entirely targeted against Indian IT firms" and this "does not serve any purpose for the US". Read more
Source : www.business-standard.com
BANGALORE : Maharashtra Chief Minister Prithviraj Chavan on Tuesday said Maharashtra would abide by the verdict of the Supreme Court on its petition seeking merger of the border town of Belgaum with his State.
Maharashtra Chief Minister Prithviraj Chavan during the press conference in Bangalore on Tuesday. Photo: Bhagya Prakash K
Speaking to presspersons, Mr. Chavan, however, refused to reply when it was pointed out that the Maharashtra government had failed to abide by its commitment to accept the recommendations of the Mahajan Commission. He clarified that the apex court verdict would become the law of the land and his government had to accept it as both States had agreed to abide by the verdict. Mr. Chavan, who served as the All-India Congress Committee general secretary in charge of Karnataka in the 2008 Assembly elections, called upon the voters of Karnataka to wipe out the Bharatiya Janata Party as its government was “born out of corruption and sin”. Read more
Source : www.thehindu.com
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