Thursday's judgement implies that the 2004 Act was not in consonance with the apex court judgement of 2003 which had mandated the construction of the SYL canal that has been stalled.
Tamil Nadu, the best-performing state, managed to do this in 63 days. Land allotment took 156 days nationally and 28 days in Himachal Pradesh. Environmental approval took 91 days nationally and 25 days in Chhattisgarh.
In several areas, the Indian government has put out a model law.
The top court said that every month on 3-4 Saturdays, the advocates are on strike on one pretext or the other and had the lawyers worked on those days, it would have achieved the ultimate goal of speedy justice, which is now a fundamental right.
The bandh has been called by pro-Kannada and farmers' organisations, protesting the Mahadayi Water Dispute Tribunal's interim order rejecting the state's petition seeking 7.56 tmcft for drinking water projects.
There are both positive and negative impacts of the tax, but the net result for India's infrastructure sector is advantageous, says Vinayak Chatterjee.
The government said it was willing to advance the upcoming Parliament session.
The death toll in firing and arson along the Assam-Nagaland border by alleged miscreants from Nagaland has increased to 11 with the recovery of nine more bodies from the disturbed Uriamghat area of Assam on Friday even as night curfew continued.
Considering that the Supreme Court has now included two, rather three, new variable to the tribunal's findings, it could imply that whenever the current order comes in for review, the two states could raise specific issues flowing from them, says N Sathiya Moorthy.
As the issue remained deadlocked with both sides sticking to their respective positions, Prime Minister Narendra Modi, while laying the foundation stone for a new Parliament building, invoked Guru Nanak to underscore the importance of dialogue and noted that the Sikh Guru had said that interaction should continue till eternity.
Nayar wrote that the central government should initiate steps to address the pending inter-state issues in the North East, especially the boundary dispute of Assam with Nagaland, Mizoram, Arunachal Pradesh and Meghalaya.
A possible, easier and less-complicated way for the Centre would have been to approach the SC with the same queries much earlier, before a ground-swell of popular sentiments and consequent political tensions had built up in Tamil Nadu, says N Sathiya Moorthy.
Senior leaders within the Congress now say the party could accommodate the government's argument that the GST rate cannot be stipulated within the Constitution.
Given the intensity of the rain, at least a third of this crisis could have been averted, had Tamil Nadu heeded Kerala's requests.
Modi must focus on other state-level reforms, such as those in labour laws, leasing of land and agriculture
The shift from 'one country, one tax' to four tax rates could dilute possible gains on GDP, warns T N Ninan.
The Rajya Sabha on Wednesday approved the biggest tax reform since Independence.
With Tamil Nadu's economy getting increasingly debt-ridden with each passing budget, any concession to the Centre on the tax front, the state government has argued, would only help forgotten 'minor parties' to start hoping of a revival, says N Sathiya Moorthy.
The finance minister is "reasonably confident" that when it comes to the crunch, "it would be extremely difficult even for the Congress party to take a contrarian view" on the GST Bill.
Maintaining that the situation is peaceful, police said stringent action would be taken against miscreants or vandals.
DMK Working President MK Stalin is worried about divisions in the ruling All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam after the death of Jayalalithaa and keen that it should not affect the functioning of the administration.
Justifying his party's demand for autonomy for states, as spelled out in its 'blue-print' for Maharashtra's development, Raj Thackeray on Monday said the Maharashtra Navnirman Sena would not be contesting the Lok Sabha elections henceforth.
Fiscal federalism should not be sacrificed at the altar of GST.
Moving from pricing control to a free market means stiff competition.
'The manufacturing sector and the capital goods industry need all the support that the government can provide, because they are working in a global market where trade restrictions are coming down every day,' says Amar Kaul.
For the government to meet its GST roll-out deadline of April 1, 2017, the states will have to ratify the Bill before Parliament's winter session, starting November.
The manifesto was unveiled by Jayalalithaa at a public rally, in a departure from usual practice of release at party headquarters in Chennai.
'Why should the people of Odisha divert water from the Mahanadhi when 13 out of 32 districts are chronically drought prone?' 'Water is a state subject. Can you really nationalise rivers for which you need drastic amendments in the Constitution?'
'The professional or the freelancer needs to pay taxes from his pocket first and then wait for payments from his clients.'
Urban markets account for the major share of total revenues.
Water scarcity is often a factor in conflicts, but is India ready to cope with limited water resources?
On the eve of Winter session of Parliament, Rahul Gandhi on Wednesday said that the Congress "strongly" believed that the government should reach out to the Opposition on certain issues.
The government has provided a long-term vision.
The American, Russian and Chinese reactions to the Uri attack indicates how tough it will be for India to 'isolate' Pakistan internationally,' says Ambassador M K Bhadrakumar.
A moderate GST rate obviates the need for the two-rate structure.
According to the draft, in the northeastern states the threshold is at Rs 500,000.
The GST will replace more than a dozen levies central and state levies, including central excise duty, service tax and central sales tax as well as VAT on sale of goods and entry tax, to make movement of goods seamless across 1.3 billion market.
As Chinese army incursions continue to recur, India has cautioned China that any disturbance of peace and tranquility in the border areas can vitiate the overall atmosphere of bilateral ties.
Apart from Kerala, the northeast perhaps is the only region where Congress can expect a decent win in the recently held Lok Sabha elections. K G Suresh looks at what the elections hold for the northeast.
The wars of the future will be fought over water and if they occur on large scale, will be far more devastating than any we have seen yet.
