-The Times of India   The Delhi high court directed the state government on Wednesday to notify rules to provide free and compulsory education to children under the Right to Education Act (RTE) within three weeks. A bench, comprising acting chief justice A K Sikri and Justice Rajiv Sahai Endlaw, asked the government to notify the rules under Section 38 of RTE Act. The direction came on the PIL filed by social jurist,...

-The Hindu   Subject to a list of conditions that activists say are not strong enough After put on hold for a year, Lavasa's controversial township project on the hills near Pune has been given the green signal subject to a list of conditions that activists say are not strong enough. Ironically, it was last week's criminal complaint filed by the Maharashtra government against the Lavasa's promoters for violation of green norms that finally...

1894 law should immediately make way for fair enactment Observing that the 1894 Act has become outdated as it does not provide for rehabilitation of persons displaced from their land, although their livelihood is affected by compulsory acquisition, a Bench of the Supreme Court has called for replacement of the law without delay. Writing the judgment, Justice R.M. Lodha said all concerned felt that the provisions of the Land Acquisition Act “do...

The Centre may create a new category under the Minimum Wages Act, 1948 for resolving the conflict with the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act, 2005 in implementaing wages rates. At present, wages under MGNREGA is linked to the consumer price index. However, it is less than the notified minimum wages for agricultural labour in six states-Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka, Kerala, Goa, Mizoram and Rajasthan. The rural development ministry has...

As the Right to Information Act (RTI) celebrated the sixth year of its coming, there has been much heated discussion, often emotional, of the benefits that it has brought and also the challenges with which it has confronted government. This debate came to a head with the prime minister’s inaugural address to the Annual Convention of the Central Information Commission on October 14. It is accepted in all circles that the...