-The Indian Express The Commission has asked for according Constitutional protection to these groups, bringing them under the umbrella of the SC/ST (Prevention of Atrocities) Act, and assured sub-quotas. New Delhi: In response to the January 2018 report by the National Commission for Denotified, Semi Nomadic, and Nomadic Tribes (NCDNT), several ministries have backed the need to enumerate these communities in the next Census so as to get an accurate estimate of...

-NetworkIdeas.org On Wednesday August 8, the Delhi High Court decriminalized begging in the capital. In the course of its hearing it had raised the question how begging could be an offence in a country where the government was unable to provide food and jobs; its final verdict is in line with this thinking. Of course there was no central legislation, or legislation relating specifically to Delhi, that had criminalized begging earlier;...

-The Hindu Takes suo motu cognisance of article in The Hindu, makes it part of case records Chennai (Tamil Nadu): The Madras High Court on Friday took suo motu cognisance of a news article titled ‘India’s Missing Children’ that appeared in the Sunday Magazine section of The Hindu on August 12 and made it a part of the official records of a batch of cases being heard by the court in connection...

-The Telegraph New Delhi: Kerala did not have inundation maps or emergency action plans when waterworks engineers, responding to rising water levels, released the shutters of dams last week, but other states may be similarly vulnerable, a 2017 government audit report suggests. In the absence of detailed inundation maps or action plans, district authorities can warn local communities about an impending rise in water levels but without a clear idea of how...

-The Telegraph New Delhi: The Narendra Modi government on Wednesday cited a 2004 UPA decision on foreign assistance to turn down offers of Kerala flood aid from various countries although the National Disaster Management Plan 2016 allows the Centre to accept such help. The move triggered allegations of "policy confusion" from the CPM that heads the state government. Breaking its silence on such offers after Kerala chief minister Pinarayi Vijayan announced on Tuesday...