-Down to Earth Chhattisgarh's much appreciated public distribution scheme is falling apart due to corruption and mismanagement As chhattisgarh prepares for panchayat election at the end of the year, the fate of ration card holders in the state is in limbo. During a verification drive in July-August, the state government found almost 1.3 million "unnecessary" ration cards in the possession of people. These cards have been taken back by the government and...

-The Times of India NEW DELHI: Law minister Sadananda Gowda on Wednesday ruled out taking the ordinance route for any amendments in the Land Acquisition Act though he said the government was in favour of bringing some changes. "There is a proposal. The call has to be taken by the concerned (rural development) ministry," he said, without elaborating on the proposed changes. Finance minister Arun Jaitley had last week said the government will...

-The Hindu High Court had asked the police to provide details of sexual offence cases In majority of rape cases reported in Delhi this year, the accused were known to the victims or their friends, followed by neighbours and relatives such as brother-in-law, uncle, husband or ex-husband and even father. Only 4.23 per cent of the alleged rapists were strangers. In an affidavit filed in the Delhi High Court on Tuesday in compliance...

-The Times of India NEW DELHI: Punjab, Haryana, Uttar Pradesh have joined 18 other states to empower the Centre to bring a legislation against honour killings, in what could be a turnaround moment for the effort to curb the powers of caste and community bodies which seek to be the final arbiter of social mores and arrogate unto themselves the power of judiciary. In its affidavit to the Supreme Court the Union...

-Economic and Political Weekly The current regime seeks to reform labour laws with the understanding that these reforms will improve industrial growth and expand the possibilities of enterprise. However, there is already ample evidence from within India that this obsession with reforming labour law, particularly in the way the government has done it till now, will not take us any closer in creating more jobs or a healthy industrial sector. These...