-The Hindu The worst blow to the right to information regime has come in the form of a persistent attack on the transparency watchdogs This year marks 15 years of the enactment of the Right to Information (RTI) law, which has empowered millions to assert their citizenship and show truth to power. It was a vibrant grassroots movement, led not just by the educated elite but the working poor across the country,...

-The Indian Express Arvind Subramanian, Shoumitro Chatterjee write: Our growth model has been export-led and should not be abandoned. Export opportunities in general and in specific sectors could be significant even in a post-COVID world. India’s intellectual and policy community has embraced atmanirbharta. This inward turn — actually return — amounts to abandoning two core principles of the post-1991 consensus: Export-orientation on the macro-economic side, and slow but steady liberalisation on the...

-The Hindu City marooned after road to airport gets washed away HYDERABAD: As many as 16 people lost their lives due to the rains pounding Hyderabad on Wednesday. With the latest deaths, the toll till Wednesday night rose to 24 including eight members of two families, who lost their lives after a large boundary wall collapsed on their houses in Chandrayangutta area late on Tuesday. Night-long rain has laid siege to Hyderabad city,...

-The Indian Express “Her family told the court that the cremation was done by the Hathras district administration against their wishes,” said senior advocate Jaideep Narain Mathur, who was appointed amicus curiae in the case. Lucknow: THE FAMILY members of the 19-year-old Dalit woman, who died after being assaulted and allegedly gangraped by four upper-caste men in Hathras, told the Lucknow bench of the Allahabad High Court on Monday that the district...

-Livemint.com * Barring some major cities, the fear of hefty traffic fines last year was short-lived, new data on road accidents suggests Just over a year ago, dramatic traffic penalties under the amended Motor Vehicles Act made headlines across the country. The centre claimed the fines would curb road accidents. But latest government data show the reality was mixed and the fear of the law may have fizzled out quite soon. A total...