-The Times of India NEW DELHI: The Supreme Court on Tuesday admitted that it had erred by directing the government to appoint only retired apex court judges and high court chief justices as heads of information commissions at the central and state levels. Restoring the position provided under the Right To Information Act for appointment of chiefs of information commissions, a bench of Justices A K Patnaik and A K Sikri erased...

-The Times of India Prime Minister Manmohan Singh said on Saturday that unauthorized collection of deposits promising high returns has to be curbed as the Centre unleashed a multi-agency probe on chit funds and money pooling firms in West Bengal and the eastern region. Rattled by the collapse of the Saradha group in West Bengal, the Centre has asked various agencies such as the Enforcement Directorate (ED), Income Tax department, the ministry...

-The Times of India The Supreme Court on Tuesday stayed its seven-month-old controversial order directing governments to appoint retired SC and HC judges as heads of Central Information Commission and state information commissions. In an interim order passed on a petition by the Union government seeking review of the apex court's September 13, 2012 judgment, a bench of Justices A K Patnaik and Arjan K Sikri also stayed the earlier directive to...

-The Indian Express The Supreme Court on Tuesday stayed its September 2012 ruling that "only" serving and retired judges of the apex court and chief justices of state high courts can head the central and state information commissions. Passing an interim order pending its decision on the review petition filed by the Centre against the verdict, a bench led by Justice A K Patnaik stayed the direction making it mandatory for information...

KEY TRENDS   • According to National Sample Survey report no. 583: Persons with Disabilities in India, the percentage of persons with disability who received aid/help from Government was 21.8 percent, 1.8 percent received aid/help from organisation other than Government and another 76.4 percent did not receive aid/ help *8   • As per National Family Health Survey-4 (NFHS-4), the Under-five Mortality Rate (U5MR) was 57.2 per 1,000 live births (for the non-STs it was 38.5)...