-The Asian Age As a neutral observer, I have no hesitation in saying that at this moment there is hardly any political party which could pose a political challenge to the BJP at the national level, but that doesn’t mean that there are no alarm bells for the BJP. The party, which swept not only the 2014 Lok Sabha elections but also most of the Assembly elections held after that, may...

-The Telegraph New Delhi: A seven-judge constitution bench of the Supreme Court today took up for consideration the question whether the use of religion and caste in elections amounts to "corrupt practice", warranting disqualification under the Representation of Peoples Act. The bench, headed by Chief Justice of India T.S. Thakur, during the day-long hearing posed several questions for which it has sought answers from various counsel appearing in the matter. The bench was...

-Hindustan Times New Delhi: The crackdown on black money is not over. With the scheme for voluntary disclosure of unaccounted for wealth now closed, tax officials have launched a drive to unearth hidden incomes and are looking at transactions carried out beyond a six-year ceiling under existing rules, sources said. “The tax department can scan transactions older than six years by invoking clause 197C of the Finance Act, 2016. This clause was introduced...

-The Hindu “Fundamental rights and human rights of people, however they may be placed, cannot be ignored only because of their adverse circumstances” Blaming Delhi for paying “little or no attention” to the fundamental rights of under trials and convicts, the Supreme Court said it is “not only tragic but also pathetic” to find that prisons in the national capital, along with half a dozen States across the country, are overcrowded by...

-Hindustan Times The first decadal study conducted after the Right to Information (RTI) Act has revealed that over 1.75 crore applications have been filed with one-fourth being requests to the Centre. The study, conducted by Commonwealth Human Rights Initiative, reveals that 27.2% (47.66 lakh) of the total RTIs filed between 2005 and 2015 were to the different ministries and departments under the Centre. This is a conservative estimate because many departments...