-The Economic Times The Opposition, acting in sync with the Trinamool Congress, a component of the ruling UPA at the Centre, on Wednesday scored a victory in the Rajya Sabha when it got the government to commit itself to the passage of the Lokpal and Lokayukta Bill in the House in the "first half of the budget session itself.'' "We want to BRIng the bill within this part of the session,'' parliamentary...

-The Indian Express Gay rights activists today submitted in Supreme Court that criminalising homosexual acts is against constitutional values and that the law should not interfere when consenting adults are involved. Naz Foundation, an NGO working for the welfare and rehabilitation of HIV infected people, contended that homosexuals face social ostracism with gay sex being declared as an offence. Appearing before a bench of justices G S Singhvi and S J Mukhopadhaya, the...

Often, municipal corporations carry out flawed projects which go against public interest and only suit vested interests. Use of RTI can help unearth such irregularities. Here’s a startling example... The Mula-Mutha rivers in Pune resemble stinking nallahs, yet the Pune Municipal Corporation (PMC) had a brainwave of implementing a river navigation project on a 25-odd km stretch from Ramwadi to Kharadi, envisioning boat rides as one of the activities to save...

-The Hindustan Times Under fire from the opposition for the indefinite postponement of the Lokpal Bill, the government on Wednesday assured the Rajya Sabha that it will be taken up before March 30 during the ongoing budget session. In his reply to the notice given by the leader of the opposition Arun Jaitley, seeking immediate resumption of the debate on the bill, parliamentary affairs minister Pawan Kumar Bansal said it will be...

India’s rural hinterland is catching up with urban areas in the use of electricity as the main source of lighting, in access to banking facilities and tap water for drinking, BRIdging the old rural-urban divide. The housing, households amenities and assets census for 2011 once again showed that rural India is fast converting into a more urbanised society. “It is part of the process of development that areas left behind eventually...