-The Times of India NEW DELHI: Overriding objections raised by senior officials, rural development minister Nitin Gadkari has ordered far-reaching changes in the job guarantee scheme (MGNREGS) which has provided seasonal work to one in three rural households in the last eight years. Documents obtained under the Right to Information (RTI) Act by activists show file notings by a senior official in the ministry arguing that Gadkari's announcements run contrary to the...

-Frontline   But in Modi's Gujarat the difference between development and darkness is all too visible to those who care to see. NARENDRA MODI may have won three consecutive elections and ruled Gujarat for more than a decade after he was posted there almost as a night watchman, to borrow a cricketing expression. He may have mobilised a massive fan following that is shouting to catapult him into the Prime Minister's post,...

-The Economic Times The country's chief auditor has uncovered a Rs 1,336-crore negative balance in the books of the Empoyees' Provident Fund Organisation (EPFO), the custodian of Rs 8.15 crore formal sector workers' lifetime savings. A report, prepared by the Comptroller and Auditor General (CAG) and reviewed by ET, says this discrepancy in the EPFO's books for 2011-12 could grow further. For beneficiaries, this could mean lower returns on provident fund savings...

-Live Mint Information commission asks Sebi to disclose details of consent order proceedings, identities of entities involved  Mumbai/New Delhi: The Central Information Commission (CIC) has directed India’s stock market regulator to disclose all details related to the insider trading case involving Reliance Petroleum Ltd (RPL) in 2007, in a move that could have a bearing on not just the functioning of the Securities and Exchange Board of India (Sebi), but also the...

The Supreme Court has taken steps to lay down a code for media reporting. This attempt at prior restraint on the media is a dangerous move with precedent from authoritarian polities. In a context where the judiciary has been lax in defending the media from attacks which seek to curb its freedom, such unilateral moves will not remedy bad reporting but rather make conditions worse for the media to play...