-PTI NEW DELHI: The Supreme Court on Tuesday directed the Centre and all state governments to provide three per cent job reservation to disabled persons in all their departments, companies and institutions. A bench headed by Chief Justice P Sathasivam also clarified that the principle of not exceeding more than 50 per cent reservation would not be applicable while granting quota for disabled persons. The apex court directed the authorities to compile the...

-The Hindu More needs to be done to enforce the law banning manual scavenging. This monsoon, India's Parliament passed a law of enormous social significance prohibiting and punishing manual scavenging, which remains the most degrading form of untouchability and caste discrimination in the country. This is not the first time this practice was outlawed: untouchability and forced labour were forbidden in the Constitution itself and, in 1993, a law was first passed...

-PTI The Centre on Friday moved the Supreme Court seeking modification of an earlier order which said Aadhar card is not mandatory and no person should be deprived of any government schemes for want it. A bench headed by Chief Justice P Sathasivam said that the plea of the Centre would be taken up for hearing on October 8. "We seek modification of the order which said that Aadhar card is not...

-The Hindu When a death sentence is given to satisfy the "collective conscience of the community," it raises troubling questions about the fairness of the trial The verdict of death for the bestial gang rape in Delhi last December is based on Supreme Court judgments, which stipulate that capital punishment will be imposed in "the rarest of rare" cases, where the community's "collective conscience is so shocked that it will expect the...

-The Hindu Direct Benefits Transfer is potentially a game-changer, but with certain pre-requisites: Mihir Shah Planning Commission member, Mihir Shah, speaks to The Hindu about a wide range of issues, including the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (MGNREGA) and his contribution to the 12 Five-Year Plan. Excerpts: * The MGNREGA has come under criticism from many quarters, including the CAG. Do you feel this criticism is warranted? How do you...