-The Indian Express RTI Act needs to be protected against attempts to dilute it. RTI activists must be made less vulnerable In April, the government of India proposed amendments to the RTI Act, one of the most empowering pieces of legislation inherited from the UPA era. The most controversial amendment pertained to Rule 12. It would allow the withdrawal of an application in case of the applicant’s death, making the job of...

-The Times of India NEW DELHI: State governments may not be able to allot residential plots in cities to serving and former MPs, MLAs, bureaucrats, journalists and judges of their choice by exercising their discretionary power as the Supreme Court on Wednesday decided to frame guidelines for allotting public land at subsidised rates. Expressing concern over state governments' decision to allocate plots to well off people while lakhs of poor people do...

-Hindustan Times After Tamil Nadu’s pioneering Amma canteens, many states have started community kitchens, such as Karnataka’s Indira Canteens. This is a welcome development. The first coverage of the recently inaugurated “Indira canteens” in Karnataka that I noticed were two reports on television channels. Both were poking fun (justifiably) at Rahul Gandhi’s goofy speech at the launch. Sadly though, neither commented on the rationale or importance of the Karnataka government’s initiative. This...

-Hindustan Times The central government has extolled RERA as a panacea for exploitation of home buyers with the establishment of an independent authority in each state. But its own actions in the Capital reflect poorly on the objective The Real Estate (Regulation) Act, 2016, the flagship legislation to protect home buyers, has come into force, but its implementation on the ground continues to lag, with the central and state governments equally lax...

-Hindustan Times Swadeshi Jagran Manch says programme to distribute dietary supplement packets to fight malnourishment benefits private players New Delhi: RSS’s offshoot Swadeshi Jagran Manch (SJM) has urged the government to not rely on dietary supplement packets to help malnourished children since it will benefit large corporations. The SJM said the programme to begin ready-to-use therapeutic foods (RUTF) begun in BJP-ruled Rajasthan and Maharashtra has proved to be an “expensive and unsustainable” exercise. More...