-The Times of India NEW DELHI: Up to 55% of court time is spent by judges each day on tasks such as reissuing summons, fixing dates for future hearings and case administration decisions rather than judicial functions such as hearings, a nationwide survey conducted by Bengaluru-based Daksh has found.   The study analysed over 91,000 court hearings involving over 6,000 cases across the country and argued that even without more manpower, the judiciary...

-The Indian Express Multiple data sets confirm sluggish pace of employment creation. Paucity of data can no longer be an excuse for the lack of debate. Jobs are an integral part of India’s political narrative today. This is unsurprising because the NDA came to power on the promise of creating a large number of jobs for India’s rapidly rising work force. However, much of the debate on employment performance over the last...

-The Indian Express Instead of cancelling hospital licences, bring in patient centric laws, institutional capacity to enforce them. The grievous error in declaring a live baby dead by the capital’s Max hospital, following closely on the heels of Fortis hospital charging exorbitant amounts for the treatment of a seven-year-old child diagnosed with dengue, seem to have pushed things to a tipping point. The government responded by cancelling the licence of Max — a...

-The Pioneer Is Odisha in the grip of climate change adversity? This looks apparent when for last three consecutive years, i.e., 2015 to 2017, the State keeps recording a condition of excessive to mildly dry even during the monsoon period of June to September. Moreover, the State has recorded wet conditions only during the cyclone or heavy flood years during the period 2009-2017. Sample this: According to the available data with Met...

-The Hindu The increase in crimes against women must prompt better policing and all-round reform The National Crime Records Bureau data for 2016 on two important aspects, violent crime and crime against women, should prompt State governments to make a serious study of the underlying causes. Not all States are equally affected; Uttar Pradesh and Bihar record the maximum number of murders. The national tally on crimes against women, which includes rape,...