-National Herald While Americans take themselves as citizens and demand responsibility and Accountability from power, Indians are still slavish, says Kannan Gopinathan, who resigned from IAS What happened in Washington DC at the Capitol Hill Building was watched in horror and everybody said, “Look democracy can fail even in America.” To me it looked like the triumph of American democracy. Attempts to overturn the Presidential election failed. State after state stood up to...

-ThePrint.in Protesting farmers didn’t approach the court, neither did the Modi govt. And the SC put the constitutionality of the laws on the back burner. In rejecting the Supreme Court-appointed expert committee to mediate between farmers and the Narendra Modi government, the farmers’ organisations have not only wisely sidestepped a possible trap, but they have also reaffirmed a basic principle of democratic Accountability and responsible governance. Let there be no confusion about it....

-The Hindu “Many States make tall claims.., but these are far from truth” The National Human Rights Commission (NHRC) has recommended action against government officials responsible for incorrectly reporting the number of manual scavengers in the country, it said in a statement on Monday. At a regional workshop for government and civil society organised by the Commission on December 18 to discuss the challenges of eradicating manual scavenging, “it was strongly felt... that...

-The Hindu Jaipur: The Congress government in Rajasthan has initiated action to bring the concurrent social audits of the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act’s (MGNREGA) works at village panchayats in line with the annual village plans. A target has been set to complete the exercise by January 26. Chief Secretary Niranjan Arya said here on Wednesday that socially excluded groups would be included in the planning process, with the emphasis...

-The Hindu The Wistron incident is an example of how exploitative labour practices could accompany businesses moving to India Apple’s decision to place its Taiwanese supplier, Wistron Corp., on probation by not giving new orders — after an audit of the serious lapses in labour practices that led to violence in its facility in Narasapura in Karnataka — is a step forward in corporate Accountability and ethical business operations. Pressured by Apple’s...