-The Telegraph New Delhi: The Union agriculture ministry is probing the circumstances under which a senior government scientist purportedly tried to malign vaccines used to protect livestock from foot-and-mouth disease outbreaks that can threaten India's milk yields. An expert panel from the Indian Council of Agricultural Research has told the agriculture ministry that Bhoj Raj Singh, a microbiologist at an ICAR research centre, has "caused damage" to the reputation of India's foot-and-mouth...

Due to delay in the appointment of Chief Information Commissioner, the number of pending cases at the Central Information Commission (CIC) have gone up by nearly 1/3rd during the last 9 months. As per information furnished by the website of CIC (accessed on 29 May, 2015), the number of pending cases for disposal was 29,937 as on 22 August 2014, which after 9 months increased to 39,464 as on 22 May,...

-The Times of India NEW DELHI: Condemned prisoners also have a right to dignity, the Supreme Court has said holding that execution of death sentence cannot be carried out in an arbitrary, hurried and secret manner without allowing death row convicts to exhaust all legal remedies and meet family members. "Right to life under Article 21 of the Constitution does not end with the confirmation of the death sentence. Even in cases...

-The Times of India AGARTALA: The Tripura government on Wednesday lifted the Armed Forces (Special Powers) Act, (AFSPA) from the state with immediate effect, chief minister Manik Sarkar announced. The Act has been in force in the one militancy-ravaged state since 1997, Sarkar told media the decision was taken in the cabinet meeting on Wednesday. "Insurgency activities in the state are now reduced almost at zero. The demand for withdrawing the AFSPA has been persuaded at...

-PTI NEW DELHI: The PMO not disclosing information about expenses incurred on foreign visits of the Prime Minister notwithstanding, a CIC-constituted committee has recommended not only putting out such details proactively by all ministries but regular updating as well. The committee of former Chief Information Commissioner A N Tiwari and Information Commissioner M M Ansari, constituted by the CIC gave its report on "Transparency Audit: Towards An Open and Accountable Government". It referred...