-PTI The government has asked the heads of all departments and autonomous bodies to visit the onlne RTI portal on daily basis, preferably as the first task of the day, to avoid any delay in replying to applications and appeals filed by citizens. The Delhi government has warned officials of strict action for “inappropriate handling” of online RTI applications, after it received several complaints about departments not responding to pleas seeking information....

-The Telegraph New Delhi: Hundreds of journalists, activists and Opposition leaders converged at the Press Club of India and other venues in Lutyens' Delhi to speak out against the fear that has set in after senior journalist Gauri Lankesh's murder. Journalists condemned the hate campaign by Twitter trolls followed by Prime Minister Narendra Modi and called for introspection within news agencies on the role the media play as the fourth pillar of...

-PTI New Delhi: The National Green Tribunal today came down heavily on the AAP government and the East Delhi Municipal Corporation (EDMC) over the Ghazipur landfill collapse in which two persons were killed, saying "nothing can be more humiliating than people being killed under garbage hill". The green panel issued notices to them while directing them to show cause why punitive action should not be taken against the Delhi government and criminal...

-The Hindu The political scientist on the danger to India’s checks and balances, and the perils of the democratisation of mediocrity in universities Professor of political science and a holder of the Madan Lal Sobti Chair, Devesh Kapur has been director of the Center for the Study of Contemporary India at University of Pennsylvania since 2006. Mr. Kapur, who recently co-edited Public Institutions in India: Performance and Design, says our public universities...

-The Indian Express The decision on compulsory counting of paper trail slips, which was approved by the full Commission before Nasim Zaidi retired as the Chief Election Commissioner on Wednesday, is a response to the demand made by political parties at a meeting held by the EC on May 12. In a bid to further reinforce the credibility of electronic voting machines, the Election Commission (EC) has decided to mandatorily tally...