-The Hindu When will the government operationalise the Lokpal law, even in its diluted form? In a hearing recently regarding non-operationalisation of the Lokpal and Lokayuktas Act, more than three years after the law was enacted, Attorney General Mukul Rohatgi reportedly argued in the Supreme Court that the court has no powers to direct the government on when and how the law should be enforced. Failure to implement the Lokpal law by the...

-Frontline.in The Aadhaar project’s headlong push towards “total” enrolment of Indian citizens threatens the privacy of individuals on an unprecedented scale, while its patchy biometric system acts as a tool of denial for the most vulnerable. Meanwhile, the UID chugs along, regardless, fuelled by the avarice of private interests who seek to cash in on citizen data. IN the last seven years, the right to privacy of Indian citizens has been...

-The Times of India NEW DELHI: Roads in Uttar Pradesh claimed around 53 lives every day in 2016, accounting for 19,320 deaths in the year, the highest among all states since the central government started compiling details of road crashes at the national level. Admitting that rising road deaths was a major concern for the State Police, UP's additional DGP (traffic) Anil Kumar Agarwal told TOI that road accidents killed more people...

-The Telegraph New Delhi: The Centre today approached the Supreme Court seeking recall of two orders directing a probe into all cases of alleged excessive use of force under the Armed Forces Special Powers Act during counter-insurgency operations in Manipur. Attorney-general Mukul Rohatgi urged a bench headed by Chief Justice J.S. Khehar for urgent listing of an "open court" hearing of the curative petition challenging the July 8, 2016, judgment of the...

-PTI Alok Kumar Verma, the former Delhi Police Commissioner, was on January 19, named as the chief of Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) The government has refused to share details of appointment of CBI Director Alok Kumar Verma, claiming the information was exempted under the Right to Information (RTI) Act. Replying to an RTI query, the Department of Personnel and Training (DoPT) said the appointment was done by Prime Minister Narendra Modi-led...