Uttarakhand may be taking credit for passing a strong Lokayukta Bill. But, when it comes to Lok Pals or Ombudsman in the rural development for redressal of grievances of the National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme (NREGS), they are yet to start functioning in the hill state. In 2009, the Centre had directed all states to set up office of Ombudsman in all the districts in order to bring more transparency in...

-Express News Service   In what could strengthen the case of those seeking lifting of the Armed Forces (Special Powers) Act (AFSPA) from parts of J&K and insurgency-hit North-East, the National Human Rights Commission (NHRC) has said the AFSPA “remains in force in Jammu & Kashmir and the North-Eastern States, conferring an impunity that often leads to the violation of human rights”. This (continuation of AFSPA), a report prepared by the NHRC...

Plutarch's Life of Dion contains an interesting anecdote of Dionysius, an avowed and established tyrant, killing his captain, Marsyas. Marsyas had dreamt of cutting Dionysius's throat, and Dionysius killed Marsyas on account of his dream. He based his decision on the assumption that Marsyas would not have dreamt of such a thing by night if he had not thought of it by day. In his seminal work The Spirit of Laws...

-The Telegraph   The Sonia-Gandhi headed National Advisory Council will prod the government to bring a law to protect unorganised retail sector workers as it brings foreign direct investment into multi-brand retail. Sonia, the council chairperson and the Congress chief, showed the green flag to the government on FDI in retail. The NAC in 2005 had drafted the unorganised sector workers’ social security bill that proposed a national authority to oversee the implementation of...

-The Economic Times   The row over opening up of the retail sector escalated on Monday with Congress' Kerala unit backing the rollback demand of 12 Opposition-controlled state governments and UPA allies DMK and Trinamool Congress.  The fissures within the ruling alliance and the potential of the issue to bring disparate Opposition groups together saw Congress president Sonia Gandhi intervening to cut political losses for her party. Sonia, who held consultations with Prime...