Five must-read stories—January 14

RBI union urges Urjit Patel to uphold autonomy

The association representing employees and officers of the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) has written to Governor Urjit Patel to uphold the central bank’s autonomy amid allegations that the government is undermining it, reports The Hindu. The union says the Finance Ministry 'imposing itself' on the RBI is ‘absolutely unacceptable and deplorable'.

GST rollout uncertainty hits Budget 2017 calculations

With hopes of meeting the April 1 deadline receding for the Goods and Services Tax (GST) rollout, the government will have to quickly take a call on whether it will rejig indirect taxes in the Budget to prepare for the launch of GST or leave them as they are till the new regime comes into force, reports The Economic Times.

H1B visas: Radical changes proposed by Donald Trump team

US President-elect Donald Trump’s transition team is considering scrapping the existing lottery system used to issue the H1B visas, reports Mint. Suggestions include a system that would favour visa petitions for jobs and very high application fees.

Why Delhi, India’s richest state, cannot hire enough teachers

Delhi’s 86% literacy rate does not translate to real learning due to a teaching crisis. IndiaSpend tracked the teacher-hiring process of the Delhi government and found shortages are caused not so much by the state’s low spending per student—at ₹3,852 in 2014-15—but a tangled, outdated and, often, illogical, hiring process.

French daily abandons opinion polls in run-up to presidential election

France’s love-hate relationship with opinion polls is in the spotlight after the daily Le Parisien announced it would stop commissioning polls in the run-up to the French presidential election and instead do more on-the-ground reporting to sound out the public mood, reports The Guardian.