-The Times of India NEW DELHI: The government is tightening the rules to stop any incidence of "paid news" in the election season. Media organizations found guilty of publishing "news'' for a consideration will risk losing their registration according to amendments to the Press and Registration of Books (PRB) act proposed by the information and broadcasting (I&B) ministry. Similar provisions are also likely to be brought in for electronic media. With assembly...

The declining trend in food price inflation globally may not hold true for inflationary trends faced domestically due to a weakening Indian Rupee vis-a-vis the US Dollar. The recently released FAO Food Price Index (nominal) has shown a declining trend in July for the third consecutive month owing to lower international prices for grains, soy & palm oil, meat, dairy and sugar. (See links below) Based on FAO Food Price...

-The Indian Express The government has lined up the Land Acquisition, Rehabilitation and Resettlement Bill, 2011 for consideration on Tuesday. The Bill, piloted by Rural Development Minister Jairam Ramesh, is intended "to ensure a humane, participatory, informed, consultative and transparent process for land acquisition for industrialisation, development of essential infrastructural facilities and urbanisation with the least disturbance to owners of the land and other affected families." The Legislation seeks to provide "just...

-The Hindu New Delhi: Moni will never forget July 13, the last day she spent with her father Ashok. The following noon he went inside a drain sewer in the basement of the Indira Gandhi National Centre for the Arts (IGNCA) in the heart of Lutyens' Delhi and did not return. Hit by the poisonous rush of gases, Ashok and two of his colleagues died on the spot. Till date there has...

-CIVIC Bangalore, IT for Change, KRIA Katte, SVYM   The government is planning to amend the Right to Information Act (RTI Act) to keep political parties outside the purview of the RTI law. The amendments are planned in response to the recent Central Information Commission order, which held that political parties are public authorities under the RTI Act and therefore should be accountable to citizens of the country. The RTI Act is a...