Political and Social Issues:

The Insurance Regulatory Development Authority (IRDA) has decided to dismantle the existing Indian Motor Third Party Pool with the effect from March 31, 2012.
Third party insurance protects the vehicle owner from any financial liability in case of damage to life or property in an accident to the third person.
The move to dismantle the common pool mechanism is a carefully researched one in the wake of “alarming increase in the liabilities of the pool, inadequate provisioning by the member-companies and inefficient management of the pool by the administrator.''
IRDA wants the `declined risks pool' to be easy to administer and improve efficiency in claims management.

The former Attorney-General, Soli Sorabjee, and jurist Rajeev Dhavan maintain that it will go against the very principle of reservation, besides leading to litigation, putting a question mark over the efficacy of the legislation.
The former Chief Justice of India, V.N. Khare, who welcomed broader representation reflecting the plurality of Indian society, wondered how far reservation in the Lokpal would stand legal scrutiny.
Mr. Sorabjee said reservation was meant to empower disadvantaged sections and create a level playing field in employment and education. On the other hand, the Lokpal was meant to check corruption, and reservation in it would not serve any purpose. Such a provision was constitutionally questionable.

The much-awaited National Telecom Policy-2011 aimed at streamlining the telecom sector will get delayed by at least six months.
The Department of Telecommunications had released the draft NTP-2011 in October this year, while the final policy was to be announced in January 2011.
The draft policy proposed several key initiatives, including simplification and rationalisation of the licensing regime, transparent system for allocation of spectrum and its efficient usage, free nationwide roaming, merger and acquisitions and sharing of spectrum.
The NTP-2011 also promises to make available secure, reliable and affordable voice telephony and high speed broadband services to every citizen in India with special focus on rural and remote areas.

The Haryana Government has decided to introduce a new scheme of issuing electronic smart cards for farmers in the State.
The cards will have all details such as the name of the farmer, his village, age, description of his land and the crops grown by him.
The card will also have details about sale of agriculture produce of the farmers and payments made to him for the same.