-TheWeekendLeader.com Chennai: In Tamil Nadu, former Chief Minister Jayalalithaa’s posthumous omnipresence is best reflected in the success of the 657 Amma Unavagams (canteens) that serve piping hot fare at unbelievably low rates to anyone who walks in looking for a satisfying meal.   These canteens provide barrier free access and are managed efficiently by a dedicated, diligent and disciplined army of women. Some even wake up at the crack of dawn and start...

-The Telegraph New Delhi: The Centre today told the Supreme Court the amended version of the Whistle Blowers Act, 2011,would be placed before the Rajya Sabha in the budget session starting January 31, with the Lok Sabha having already passed it. Solicitor-general Ranjit Kumar gave this undertaking to a bench of Chief Justice J.S. Khehar and Justice D.Y. Chandrachud during the hearing of a PIL by an NGO, Parivartana. The hearing witnessed...

The Bharatiya Janata Party's (BJP) election manifesto for 2014 Lok Sabha election says that if elected to the Centre, it will then "(p)ut in place welfare measures for farmers above 60 years in age, small and marginal farmers and farm labours", among other things. Despite the formation of a BJP led National Democratic Alliance (NDA) government at the Centre in 2014, the latest available data on farm suicides from the...

-The Indian Express De-listing of 255 parties by the EC has thrown up data on distribution of India’s minor political outfits and the nature of political entrepreneurship in the country. On December 23, The Indian Express began reporting a multi-part series on 255 political parties that had been de-listed by the Election Commission after it found that none of these had put up a candidate for any Vidhan Sabha or Lok...

-Bangalore Mirror The issue of encroachments in Devammachi Reserved Forests in Diddalli, Kodagu has thankfully evoked a balanced response from political leaders cutting across party lines. The Chief Minister, the District Minister, the Member of Parliament and the Virajpet MLA have all taken a clear stand that such fresh forest encroachments cannot be permitted while maintaining that poor people would be rehabilitated outside. However, the ill informed actions and statements of...