Move to form body with 50 governments to oversee Internet governance The raging controversy over excessive state regulation of the Internet based on the IT Rules 2011 is now likely to be dwarfed by discussions in Geneva later this week on India's proposal to the United Nations General Assembly for government control of the Internet. Led by the Commission on Science and Technology for Development, the Geneva meet is a multi-stakeholder discussion...

-The Hindustan Times In April, after yet another story of maid abuse came out in the open, a news magazine ran a cover story titled, ‘The new slaves’. While many would cringe at the thought of equating domestic workers with slaves, unfortunately that is exactly how many families treat their domestic help, taking advantage of a crowded labour market, lack of a credible support system for the help, weak implementation of...

The government has taken exception to the `biases' in the United NationsDevelopment Programme's (UNDP) Asia Pacific Human Development report, titled, One Planet, which was released on Thursday. UNDP, required to play a neutral role in international governance, has recommended that India and other countries in the Asia Pacific region take greater responsibility to reduce emissions and warned that 'inclusive growth' would increase emissions, a trade-off that India cannot afford. Pointing...

-The Economic Times The story of rotting foodgrains and hunger rocked the Lok Sabha yet again on Wednesday morning, prompting the government to say it was ready for consultations with political parties to find a long-term solution to the problem of storage facilities. Finance minister Pranab Mukherjee gave this assurance when an angry Opposition sought greater availability of jute sacks for wheat before the monsoon. BJP and its ally JD(U) have been...

-The Telegraph The wheat has to be saved, so joust over jute. Finance minister Pranab Mukherjee today assured Opposition leaders he had asked Bengal to increase production of jute bags after shortage of facilities to store this year’s bumper wheat crop rocked the Lok Sabha. Mukherjee said he had spoken to Bengal industries minister Partha Chatterjee and urged him to ensure uninterrupted production to ensure that the supply of jute sacks increased by...