-The Hindu Despite its uneven history in India, decentralisation is vital to strengthen participatory democracy, facilitate responsive governance and enable public service delivery. Much has been written on decentralisation in India though, on the ground, there is very little to show despite the 73rd and 74th Constitutional amendments. The rationale for decentralisation comes from the need to strengthen participatory democracy, facilitate responsive governance, ensure greater accountability and enable public service delivery according to...

-The Times of India NEW DELHI: At a time when Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg is on a visit to India, the government's contract with his company is under intense legal scrutiny. For the first time, following court instructions, the Centre has filed in the Delhi high court a copy of the contract with Facebook that allows the latter to operate in the country. In an affidavit, the Centre has annexed the contract...

-Frontline In Rajasthan, the abysmal state of school education has forced pupils, particularly girls, to come out in protest against the shortage of teachers and lack of infrastructure. IT was just over a year ago, on Gandhi Jayanti 2014, that girls of the senior secondary school of the town of Bhim in Rajasthan went on strike. The young, fresh-faced and neatly groomed girls were far removed from anyone’s idea of potentially rowdy...

-Business Standard Both sides make claims and counter claims over who owes money to whom in plea filed before Bombay HC by Monsanto Hyderabad: The rising dispute between Monsanto and the Indian seed companies over the quantum of trait value being fixed towards the Transfer of BT Cotton technology reached to a peak with both the parties making claims and counter claims over who vows the money to whom in a petition...

-The Indian Express The voucher scheme is supposed to act as an intervention for LIG and EWS segments who are forced to seek accommodation elsewhere in the face of inadequate social rental housing THE MINISTRY of Housing and Urban Poverty Alleviation is considering introduction of subsidies, in the form of direct benefit Transfer, that would be provided to economically weaker sections (EWS) and low income group (LIG) households towards their rent payments. The...