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While the UPA government is arguing that the Lieutenant Governor’s consent is necessary for the introduction of the Bill, the AAP government wants to make this provision inapplicable. Both positions appear to be incorrect in law As controversy rages over whether the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) government can introduce the Jan Lokpal Bill in the Delhi Assembly, there seems to be very little clarity on the legal position. The legal and political complexities require us to comprehend first the position that the National Capital Territory of Delhi (NCTD) occupies within the constitutional structure. Irrespective of whether one agrees with the content and approach of the Jan Lokpal Bill, the response to whether the Delhi government can introduce and pass the Bill in the Legislative Assembly must be independent of that. The arguments of both the AAP government, based on Mr. Soli Sorabjee’s opinion, and that of the Lieutenant-Governor, based on the advice of the Solicitor General of Ind...

As part of its first-ever long-term policy for the mutual fund industry, market regulator SEBI on Thursday proposed doubling of saving limits for investors to avail tax benefits under Section 80 C. SEBI has recommended that the limit be doubled to ₹2 lakh to make mutual fund products such as Equity-Linked Saving Schemes and Mutual Fund-linked Retirement Plans a priority for investors. The Rajiv Gandhi Equity Savings Scheme can also be brought under the enhanced limit, it said. To promote pension products by MFs, the policy has mooted the introduction of a long-term product, such as a Mutual Fund-linked Retirement Plan, with an additional limit of ₹50,000 under the Income Tax Act. These recommendations are “primarily on the premise that any long-term investment instrument should get similar treatment whether you are investing through insurance, pension, or a long-term mutual fund product,” said SEBI Chairman UK Sinha, after the board meeting. SEBI has also d...

A rise in freight earnings was celebrated as management wizardry when in reality, it was an emergency one-time measure that boosted earnings over a limited period When the Railway Minister presented the ‘Vote-on-Account’ in Parliament on February 12, for the first time in more than three decades, Indian Railways (IR) would have completed almost 10 years under one political dispensation, albeit a coalition. How far has this decade of relative political

We can be outraged by the racism in India only when we begin to accept that cultural and ethnic contamination is the overriding theme of our identity On a trip to Lahore once, I was struck by the cultural similarities between my hosts and myself. We liked the same food, lived in similar surroundings, and shared the same jokes. It was an altogether

For more than 14 months, the Indian Olympic Association (IOA) stubbornly refused to listen to reason. It engaged in a ‘no-win’ stand-off with the International Olympic Committee (IOC), staking the country’s Olympic future. It drew contempt for its officials amidst a power struggle, before accepting the inevitable. Suspended by the IOC in December 2012 for violation of the Olympic

In a distressing pattern that has come to define the fate of publishing in India, another book whimsically determined to have transgressed cultural sensitivities, has been withdrawn from

The Hindu MPs cover their nose with handkerchief, while coming out of the Parliament after Vijayawada MP L. Rajagopal used pepper spray to prevent the introduction of the Telangana bill at the Lok Sabha in New Delhi on Thurday. Photo: Rajeev Bhatt Cracking the whip, Lok Sabha Speaker Meira Kumar on Thursday suspended 18 MPs from Andhra Pradesh for rest of the session after unprecedented pandemonium broke out in the House over the Telangana issue.