Prolonged captivity of hostages & perceived helplessness of government have adverse impact on psyche of society Maoists may be patting themselves on their back for forcing the Chhattisgarh and Odisha governments to give into their demands in exchange for those abducted by them, but kidnap as a tool of revolutionary warfare could prove to be counter-productive to them. The prolonged captivity of hostages and the perceived helplessness of the government, which fears...

In a decision that could kick up a controversy, the Central Information ComMISsion (CIC) has said that information provided by a person while applying for a passport could be disclosed under the Right to Information Act. "Given our dismal record of MIS-governance and rampant corruption which collude to deny citizens their essential rights and dignity, it is in the fitness of things that the citizen's right to information is given...

-Zee News Information provided by a person while applying for passport can be disclosed under the Right to Information Act, the Central Information ComMISsion (CIC) has held. "Given our dismal record of MIS-governance and rampant corruption which collude to deny citizens their essential rights and dignity, it is in the fitness of things that the Citizen's Right to Information is given greater primacy with regard to privacy," Information ComMISsioner Shailesh Gandhi...

RTE marks a welcome return to common schooling; the objections lack substance. It's the strangest of debates. Private schools are up in arms against the Supreme Court order upholding the Right to Free and Compulsory Education Act (RTE), 2009. What are their objections? First, non-minority private unaided schools feel they have got a raw deal. They will have to provide free education to 25 per cent of their students, admitted from economically...

-The Hindu Environment Ministry rejected forest clearance to Kalu dam in Thane district While irregularities were surfacing in irrigation projects around Mumbai in early April, the Forest Advisory Committee (FAC) of the Ministry of Environment and Forests (MoEF) rejected forest clearance to the Kalu dam in Murbad taluka of Thane district, which would have submerged around 1,000 hectares of forest land. Work started last October without perMISsion from the MOEF, and Indavi Tulpule...