-The Indian Express The Comptroller and Auditor General (CAG) has got a toehold in the auditing process of Research & Analysis Wing (Raw), India’s premier intelligence agency. In directions issued by the cabinet secretariat earlier this month, Raw has been told to submit a copy of its annual internal audit report to CAG. The report is prepared by a senior officer of the Indian Audit Service. A series of follow-up steps are...

Rural women entrepreneurs in Rajasthan produce a nutritious food supplement as take home rations for pregnant mothers and underfed infants   There is very little that distinguishes the hamlet of Madri from the innumerable others that dot southern Rajasthan. This is a region where the Aravallis make their presence felt in gnarled hillocks, where water is scarce and where the land yields its harvests grudgingly. People here, including toddlers, know well the edge...

-The Times of India   Petitions seeking the inclusion of Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) and National Investigation Agency (NIA) under the Right to Information Act, have to be transferred to theSupreme Court to be heard along with other petitions raising similar demands, CBI told the high court on Wednesday.  When the case came up for hearing before actingChief Justice Manjula Chellur and Justice PR Ramachandra Menon, CBI's counsel submitted to the court...

-Eastern Panorama   It’s been almost two months since a 6.9 magnitude earthquake left the Himalayan state of Sikkim devastated. Nine families of Ralak village in Tingchim Mangshilla Gram Panchayat in the North District of Sikkim are still living in make shift relief camps with the mothers cuddling their children under blankets to give them comfort and warmth in the cold November nights. As snow has already covered the mountains visible from...

Handloom weavers in Andhra Pradesh are in a crisis brought on by policy blindness and the emphasis on powerlooms. WHEN P. Pulliah, a weaver in the traditional cotton handloom centre of Chirala in Prakasam district of Andhra Pradesh, describes the sarees he crafts, thread by delicate thread, his face lights up with joy. He animatedly explains that the sarees have a border on both sides. And they are fully embellished, he...