-The Hindu Today, as the Marrakesh Treaty comes into force, India’s multi-stakeholder approach to providing texts for the blind/print-disabled offers an excellent model for other countries to follow. Today is an important day for blind and other print-disabled people across the globe, as it marks the entry into force of an international treaty designed to help deliver specially adapted texts to those affected by a range of disabilities that interfere with the...

-TheWire.in The report shows that barring Pakistan, the rest of South Asia has also ranked well in implementing RTI laws with only Bhutan yet to enact one. India has slipped one point down to fourth place on the global RTI (Right to Information) Rating index that provides a comparative assessment of the national legal frameworks of 112 member countries with respect to the right to information. The rating was developed and applied...

-The Hindu Business Line About 3.15 crore farmers have been insured this kharif season against 3.08 crore last year, claims Agriculture Ministry New Delhi: The Centre appears to have scored some points on the success of the recently-launched Pradhan Mantri Fasal Bima Yojana — the flagship insurance scheme for farmers. Going by the latest estimates of coverage and the sum insured it has seen a marginal increase vis-a-vis last year. “We are still compiling...

-The Times of India Chennai: Voicing concern about closures of government primary schools in Tamil Nadu, members of the Samakalvi Iyakkam, a child rights movement, urged the state government not to close or merge schools citing poor strength. They also demanded for the reopening the schools that were closed or merged in the last 10 years. Quoting RTI replies, members of the NGO, in a press meet here on Tuesday, said as...

-The Indian Express Preventive detention is being routinised as an instrument of state repression The recent preventive detention (PD) of Khurram Parvez, a Kashmiri human rights activist, and Jignesh Mewani, a Dalit leader from Gujarat, has turned the spotlight on the provision of PD and the purposes it is being made to serve. National Crime Records Bureau data released in September 2015 indicate that over 3,200 people were being held in administrative...