-The Times of India Reflecting the grievances of people in Jammu and Kashmir and north-eastern states, the Supreme Court on Tuesday said prolonged deployment of armed forces in disturbed areas was bound to result in extra-judicial killings. Dealing with the issues raised by public interest litigations alleging 1,528 extra-judicial killings in Manipur in the last three decades, a bench of Justices Aftab Alam and Ranjana P Desai said, "Manipur's woes must...

-The Hindu   The flagship programme will now include LPG subsidy Admitting that the UPA government's ambitious flagship Direct Benefits Transfer (DBT) programme had run into unanticipated "difficulties" since its roll-out in January this year, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh on Friday exhorted the departments concerned to renew efforts for its successful implementation. Dr. Singh pointed to the "unsatisfactory nature of tracking and monitoring" systems of the scheme which had the potential of "transforming...

-The Times of India HYDERABAD: At a time when the central government is formulating ways to 'strengthen' the not-so-adequately used Right to Information Act 2005 (RTI) in the country, here is a man from AP who has been penalised by the State Information Commission for using the RTI a little too frequently. Turns out that E Sivaramanjaneyulu, a resident of Navapala village in Anantapur district, dashed off over 100 RTI applications,...

-The Times of India The Delhi High Court on Thursday issued notice to the Attorney General on a plea that the office of the law officer be declared a "public authority" under the RTI Act as the appointment is according to the Constitution. Justice G S Sistani gave six weeks to the AG to reply while hearing an appeal filed by Delhi-based RTI activist Subhash Chandra Aggarwal against a decision of the...

-The Hindu   Despite apparent similarities, the reports of two centrally appointed committees are split on the relationship between knowledge, skills and social needs Two major reports with overlapping concerns were submitted to the central government during the last decade. They were drafted by committees appointed by two different offices of the same government. One was chaired by Yash Pal, and the other by Sam Pitroda. The titles of the two committees indicated...