-Economic and Political Weekly India's scheduled tribes are among the most deprived socio-economic groups and the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee scheme has great potential in tribal areas. While the Andhra Pradesh government has made an effort to ensure implementation of the scheme in the scheduled areas, the gap between administrative orders and the grass-roots level is wide. This article lists measures that could radically improve implementation of the scheme...

-The Indian Express Adopting a fresh stance, the government on Wednesday told the Supreme Court that it was willing to take a re-look at Section 66A of the Information Technology Act, which empowers police to make arrests over social media messages, and to put in necessary safeguards for allaying apprehensions against its misuse. The government assured the court that it was for the complete freedom of expression on the social media and...

-The Hindu Business Line   Suicide is principally a mental health issue. This is why we must welcome its decriminalisation Our lawmakers need to be congratulated for setting aside their differences and acting in concert to remove one of the big colonial era blots on our statute books - Section 309 of the Indian Penal Code, which treated attempted suicide as a crime. Since law and order is a State subject, a mere...

-The Indian Express   The Supreme Court on Tuesday observed that Section 66A of the Information Technology Act, which empowers police to make arrests over social media posts, apparently lacked guidelines on when such power can be exercised and that somebody's "annoyance" was enough in certain cases for invoking the law. "Section 66A does not give any specific guidance on when to invoke it, unlike the provisions in the Indian Penal Code (IPC)....

-The Times of India NEW DELHI: The government on Sunday formally moved to bury the Planning Commission before January 26 with strong support from regional parties. The only resistance came from Congress-ruled states, which failed to garner support, except from the Bihar government controlled by Nitish Kumar, once a supporter of decentralization in decision-making. Prime Minister Narendra Modi, who discussed the role of the Planning Commission with chief ministers, had announced the...