-The Hindu Allowing a scribe for candidate not largesse, says bench The government is not conferring a “largesse” on disabled people by facilitating a scribe during the course of the Civil Services Examination, the Supreme Court held in a judgment on Thursday. The Union Public Service Commission and the Department of Personnel and Training (DoPT), by allowing a scribe, are not allowing them a “privilege”, a Bench led by Justice D.Y. Chandrachud declared...

-CaravanMagazine.in Upneet Lalli is the deputy director of the Institute of Correctional Administration in Chandigarh, a central government institution which imparts Training to police officers and prison officers. A psychologist and legal expert by Training, Lalli is the author of the book Human Rights in Indian Prisons, among other works. As Indian politics places itself on the right of the ideological spectrum, some individuals who were members of right-wing organisations, have moved...

-TheWire.in Development administration is a specialised job. At present, bureaucrats are transferred from one department to another with little attention to whether they have knowledge of agriculture or industries. The new year calls for a basic change in priorities – a need to focus on the development of rural areas. The current farmers’ agitation has thrown into sharp relief the failure of the government to understand the concerns of a large section...

Commenting on the recently released fifth round of National Family Health Survey (NFHS-5) data for 17 states and five Union Territories (UTs) in an article published in The Indian Express (dated 6th January, 2021), Arvind Subramanian and his co-authors have stated that India has made progress on certain outcomes, including infant mortality rate (IMR), under-five mortality rate (U5MR) and neonatal mortality rate (NNMR). Relying on various rounds of NFHS data,...

-The Indian Express While the Sanghatana has supported the farm laws, it has also demanded that the ban on the export of onions be removed forthwith — and has threatened to pelt BJP MPs with onion bulbs if the central government did not accede to the demand. On Monday, some farmers’ unions met Agriculture Minister Narendra Singh Tomar to express support for the three farm laws against which thousands of farmers are...