DAILY NEWS: OUR PICKS


Is IRDA taking any action or just reporting?   HDFC Life, Birla Sun Life and Reliance Life top the ‘Hall of Shame’ list in insurance business; according to data compiled by the Insurance Regulatory Development Authority (IRDA), they are the worst three in terms of number of customer...

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The government offers subsidy for using solar power but, at the moment, the investment costs are high and these deter owners in residential areas from taking the risk   A workshop on "Energy Secure Outlook for India” organised by both the Planning Commission and the Centre for Study...

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Fran Silverman (TruthInAdvertising.org) 06 August 2014
Consumers of news have the right to know if a particular piece of content was written, produced and paid for by a particular company, whether it makes them less likely to click on it or not   John Oliver has it right. In eleven minutes, the host of HBO’s Last Week Tonight has summed...

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Frivolous RTI applications help nobody, but they aren't as big a problem as they are made out to be   Last week, Congress spokesperson Tehsin Poonawala, asked under the RTI, “whether Achche Din have indeed arrived?” The reply he promptly got from the Prime Minister's Office (PMO) was,...

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Charles Ornstein (ProPublica) 06 August 2014
The inspector general of the US Department of Health and Human Services finds Medicare spent tens of millions of dollars in 2012 for HIV drugs there’s little evidence patients needed. A 77-year-old woman with no record of HIV got $33,500 of medication   Medicare spent more than $30...

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Who pays Who benefits?   One of prime minister Narendra Modi’s ambitious plans is the massive financial inclusion drive which envisages a bank account for 150 million Indians by August 2018. The idea of financial inclusion is not new—it has been the buzzword at the Reserve Bank of...

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The essentials of western medicine could be clubbed with the best of other systems like Ayurveda, Homeopathy, Siddha, Unani, Acupuncture, and Herbal medicines to make sickness care less expensive, more useful and less dangerous   "Unless we put medical freedom into the Constitution,...

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Educational loan for staff hiked to Rs20 lakh @ 5%   While RBI is gearing up to play a key role in the grand plan to bring 150 million households into the formal financial system, RBI employees have obtained a nice fat ‘financial inclusion’ of their own. Reserve Bank officials...

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Subrata Roy makes himself at home in Tihar   SEBI vs Sahara will rank among the most unique trials in India’s legal history; the twists and turns just don’t stop. The latest is that a jailed businessman, with a dodgy record of financial disclosures, gets to negotiate a sale of assets...

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TruthInAdvertising.org 05 August 2014
The energy drink company has agreed to offer a $10 cash reimbursement or $15 in Red Bull products to any consumer in the US who bought a Red Bull product since 1 January 2002   Red Bull has consented to cough up some $13 million in customer refunds to settle a class-action lawsuit...

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Charles Ornstein (ProPublica) 05 August 2014
Experts question the effectiveness of HP Acthar Gel, a drug made from pigs’ pituitary glands. Yet it cost US Medicare more than $141 million in 2012, up from $7 million in 2008   This story was co-published with The New York Times' The Upshot. An obscure injectable medication...

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Moneylife Digital Team 04 August 2014
The appellant received two sets of different names as coach and manager who had gone with the Indian wrestling team to the Beijing Olympics. This is the 206th in a series of important RTI judgements given by former Central Information Commissioner Shailesh Gandhi   The Central...

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TruthInAdvertising.org 04 August 2014
The US FTC recommended telecom companies to prevent cramming, which is the illegal practice of hiding unauthorized charges, including giving customers express right to block third-party charges and developing a transparent process for resolving disputes   About four weeks after the...

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Nobody knows whether Modi Sarkar will modify Congress programmes like Aadhaar before implementing them and how it plans to control inflation   It is not yet three months since Narendra Modi was sworn in as prime minister (PM) with the biggest popular mandate in the past three decades....

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A buy-the-dip market is headed for a dip   Over the past two weeks, the market has found it hard to make much progress. True, the post-Budget disappointment was replaced by sustained buying. Many institutional investors, obviously, believe that the market is bound to head higher as...

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India exports iron ore at $100 a tonne, depending on grades while steel is imported at $600 to $700 per tonne. Any further delay in increasing iron ore production is dangerous to domestic steel industry and the mining industry will also suffer, creating increased unemployment in the...

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In late July, the small cap stocks in the US did not follow their larger brethren to new highs, which is called divergence. Divergence along with overvaluation and bullish enthusiasm are signals of a potential sell off. Is that happening now?   Was last week's sell-off the first sign...

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The government's idea to get people to voluntarily forgo their LPG subsidy as an exercise in "nation building" has raised peoples' hackles.  The SMS from oil companies says, "Want to join Nation Building? It's simple - just give up LPG subsidy." Now if only the minister or the prime minister...

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Moneylife Digital Team 01 August 2014
Business conditions in the Indian manufacturing sector improved for the ninth consecutive month in July, as companies scaled up production in response to robust levels of demand, the HSBC survey says   India’s manufacturing sector growth jumped to 17-month high in July, driven by...

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Moneylife Digital Team 01 August 2014
The Appellant does not have to show any public interest in disclosure of the information unless an exemption under Section 8(1) of the RTI Act applies to the information, the CIC ruled. This is the 205th in a series of important RTI judgements given by former Central Information Commissioner...

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