The United Progressive Alliance (UPA) government loves committees. Have problem, will deliberate, seems to be the government’s motto. So, it is not surprising that the chief ministers’ conference on price rise ended with yet another committee being appointed, this time on the overhaul of the public distribution system (PDS). This despite the fact that the recent surge in prices had nothing to do with the absence of a universal PDS...

Upholding the right to shelter as a fundamental right for all residents of the Capital, including those living in slums, the Delhi High Court on Thursday Restrained the state government from forcibly razing any hutment — unless it was an encroachment on an existing road — without guaranteeing alternative accommodation. The government was also told to formulate a concrete relocation policy in cases where slums needed to be razed. Delivering...

SC lays down eight rules to streamline the PIL movement and wants the courts to follow them What the development of public inteRest litigation (PIL) and right to information has done to the justice delivery system can be compared, with a little exaggeration, to the growth of mobile telephony and Internet in communications. The only fear is that they may act like unruly horses at times. Public inteRest petitions have been filed...

"Parading an accused before the media and releasing his 'confessional' statement violated the right of the accused," said the Delhi High Court on Monday. Ordering the Delhi police to stop this practice, a Bench headed by Chief Justice Ajit Prakash Shah has asked the police if they could issue guidelines banning it. "The police should not deliberately make the accused pose before the media. But there is no harm in cameramen...

Increasing scrutiny of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change and, in particular, its chairman, should lead to reforms THE past month has not been a good one for Rajendra Pachauri (pictured above), the charismatic chairman of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) and director general of TERI, an Indian research institute. His numerous positions on boards and industrial advisory panels, in India and beyond, have led to charges of conflicts...