-The Telegraph The 2015-16 budget was presented to the Lok Sabha by the finance minister on February 28, 2015. The first half of the 2015 budget session of both Houses of Parliament has just ended. The highlight was the passing of a number of bills and the budget debate. The debate on the budget in the Rajya Sabha was a long one, lasting over 10 hours. Several speakers participated, drawn from...

-The Times of India NEW DELHI: The political class on Monday was a divided house on corporate houses directly picking the beneficiaries of their 'big money'. While the big parties led by Congress and BJP favoured the present system of corporate funding during the Election Commission's national consultation here on 'Political Finance and Law Commission's Recommendations', the Left, Trinamool Congress and JD(U) plumped for a system whereby entire corporate funding is funnelled...

-The Times of India MEERUT: Forgotten by most and out in the cold, quite literally, 25 people have died of chill this winter in the Muzaffarnagar camps that continue to house a little over 3,500 riot refugees. TOI visited Muzaffarnagar - Shamli has another 700 refugees - over two days, tabulating a list of the dead and the dates on which they had died, and found that even after they breathed their...

-The Telegraph New Delhi: A panel appointed by the Supreme Court has suggested that government advertisements stay politically neutral and avoid glorification of political personalities, positive portrayals of the ruling party or negative projections of the Opposition. It has said that governments should cut down on ads particularly before and during elections, and must not be seen as using ads to patronise media houses to secure favourable coverage. The court asked the Centre...

-The Hindu It will need a caring partnership between the Dongria Kondh, civil society organisations and the government to figure out how to navigate the very difficult terrain the tribals face Till last week, I'd never visited Niyamgiri, scene of the iconic fight between the Dongria Kondh tribal group and Vedanta, a powerful multinational corporation bent on mining in the area. So why have I titled this ‘revisiting Niyamgiri'? Partly because I've...