Five must-read stories—December 8  

30 days of ‘Demonetisation’ and 50 RBI notifications

In the month following the withdrawal of ₹500 and ₹1,000 as legal tender, the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) issued at least 50 notifications. But what was meant to be a clear communication strategy resulted in even more confusion as these daily evolving guidelines ended up showing the central bank as being unprepared for the problems that the public faced. Often, it went back on promises made earlier. In Mint.

How the rich get away by not paying Income Tax

Is it believable that the wife of a top industrialist paid an Income Tax of only ₹25,000? It is of course well known that India’s wealthiest man is not the top Income Tax payer. Think about it—if the wife of a billionaire, whose taxable income suffered a massive decline, got away by paying only ₹25,229 as tax, isn’t it time the government seriously rethought India’s taxation system? In TheQuint.com.

LK Advani not allowed to interact with journalists

"I am going to tell the Speaker that she is not running the House. I am going to say it publicly. Both sides are a party to this," Advani said, throwing up his hands. Parliamentary affairs minister Ananth Kumar and his deputy, SS Ahluwalia, both looking flustered, were seen escorting Advani out of Parliament, not allowing any interaction with journalists. In The Telegraph.

An aggressive FM but no answers

Jaitley did not answer the queries in his brief intervention but dared the Opposition to a debate. "If the Opposition has the guts, then I dare you to resume the discussion right away," he said. His aggressive stance—that he repeated again in the afternoon—made the TRS's Keshav Rao wonder why the minister had lost his composure. In The Telegraph.

Donations for critical patients dry up

“We have at least 100 kidney patients. On each patient, we spend ₹17,000 per month for dialysis two times in a week and medicines worth ₹7,000. These include an injection that costs ₹4,000. It has to be administered every month,” says Inderpreet Singh Chadha. He runs Humble Charities that works to provide free treatment to poor patients at the PGI. “As donors are facing a cash crunch, they are unable to contribute much,” he says. In The Tribune.