-The Indian Express Patna: In a first, Bihar’s State Information Commission has asked the Home department to produce before it a “defiant” Block Development Officer, who has failed to respond to as many as nine summons sent over two years. The SIC has been hearing the case of a BDO, who, despite being the designated public information officer, has not replied to a query by an applicant on why and how many...

-The Hindu The Supreme Court’s unyielding criticism of the government for not eradicating the practice of manual scavenging was the springboard for the Ministry of Social Justice and Empowerment to introduce the Prohibition of Employment as Manual Scavengers and their Rehabilitation Bill, 2012 in the Lok Sabha on September 3. Welcomed as a panacea for the historically iniquitous, caste-ordained practice of manually handling human waste, the new Bill indicates renewed commitment...

-The Indian Express While Leader of Opposition in the Rajya Sabha Arun Jaitley may have been the first frontline politician to raise the issue of a “cooling-off” period for retired judges, many who have been a part of the higher judiciary have voiced this concern in the past. Former union law minister Jaitley said on Sunday that the “clamour for post-retirement jobs among judges is affecting the impartiality of the judiciary” and...

-The Indian Express Bhubaneswar : Aiming to reach the poorest of poor, the Naveen Patnaik government on Tuesday started Palli Sabhas and Gram Sabhas in 48,000 villages under 6,236 gram panchayats through which several developmental projects and schemes such as NREGS, Nirmal Bharat Abhiyan and old age pension would be executed. The programme termed “Gram Sabha Shashaktikaran Karyakrama” would continue till October 18 and give the grampanchayats a say in selecting the...

-The Telegraph The enormity of the real challenge before Manmohan Singh is far higher than that posed by Mamata Banerjee. A “perfect storm” is gathering around the economy, according to a Centre-commissioned report packed with suggestions for a series of tough measures that will affect daily life and test the government’s resolve to wade further into unpalatable waters. The report presented by the Vijay Kelkar panel, which was asked to suggest a road...