-The Hindu Over the years Indian politics has come to be defined by a peculiar characteristic: it has become more inclusive and representative in terms of caste and class but regressed on issues relating to women. This uncomfortable truth was brought home in the aftermath of the widely condemned Delhi gang rape. Politicians claimed to be revulsed by the violence which extinguished a young life. Yet in their speeches, they borrowed...

-PTI In a peculiar case, the Central Information Commission could not punish some CBI officials for a delayed response on an RTI application seeking information on Commonwealth Games related corruption cases as the persons concerned were "no longer in service". During a hearing of a complaint filed by Delhi advocate Vivek Garg, Chief Information Commissioner Satyananda Mishra said no penalty was imposed on the officials with CBI's Anti Corruption Branch (ACB),...

-National Alliance of People’s Movements A historic mobilization of more than 1 lakh farmers, farm workers and agrarian masses belonging to a wide variety of social movements from across India descended upon New Delhi today. Protestors at the 'Kisan Khet Mazdoor Mahapanchayat'  came to show their collective commitment towards getting the government’s attention to reverse the grave agrarian crisis caused by liberalization reforms supporting foreign investors, corporations; reforms that support elite...

-The Indian Express An accountability framework is critical for flagship schemes In his budget speech, the finance minister gave the assurance that all flagship programmes of the government would be adequately funded. The government pours substantial funds into 70 Centrally sponsored schemes. In 2011-12, an amount of Rs 1,88,573 crore was allocated for the implementation of 13 development programmes, such as the MGNREGA, PMGSY, NRHM and JNNURM, under the auspices of nine...

-The Hindu Sets up a three-member panel to monitor execution of the order Gurgaon: The National Green Tribunal has through a recent order banned construction of roads and cutting of trees in the Aravallis directing the parties concerned to restore the area to its original condition. The Tribunal also set up a three-member committee to monitor the execution of the order. The order came on Badshahpur resident Devendra Kumar’s plea on violation of...