-Newsclick.in The amendments contradict the federal nature of the Act, and end up violating the PM’s principle of cooperative federalism. Information is the currency that every citizen requires to participate in the life and governance of society —AP Shah, former Chief Justice, Delhi and Madras High Courts, 2010. It is not just Shah but many justices of the High Courts and the Supreme Court, who have repeatedly stressed that the right to information is...

-Hindustan Times Since Independence, waves of forest encroachments have been regularised on one pretext or another, and this unfortunate trend seems to be continuing. With a recent United Nations report warning that one million species of plants and animals are poised on the brink of extinction, we need to take all forest destruction very seriously The Forest Rights Act (FRA) was originally meant to redress historical injustice to genuine forest dwellers by...

-Press statement by NREGA Sangharsh Morcha dated 19 July, 2019 While it is heartening that a discussion on rural development lasted for nine hours in Parliament with important issues on MGNREGA being raised, we are deeply disappointed at the statement of the Rural Development Minister that not only displays a lack of understanding of the program but also betrays the clear anti-poor sentiment of this government. On the central issue of inadequate...

  During budget presentations, budget documents, which are provided, carry updated data and information related to various departments and ministries of the Central Government such as on revenues, expenditures, deficits etc. Recently economists like Dr. Rathin Roy and Prof. Jayati Ghosh have expressed concerns about the Ministry of Finance for not uploading updated and appropriate budgetary data and figures on the website www.indiabudget.gov.in following the 2019-20 Union Budget presentation by the...

-The Hindu Seek 20% recount in border districts, extension of July 31 deadline for final list New Delhi: The Centre and the State of Assam on Tuesday made an urgent mention before the Chief Justice of India for an extension of the deadline for the final publication of the National Register of Citizens (NRC) from July 31, 2019, to a “future date”. In identical but separate applications, they urged the Supreme Court for...