-The Hindu Differences over appointments process has meant 45% of sanctioned judges’ posts are empty Amid the continuing tussle between the government and the judiciary over the contentious clause in the Memorandum of Procedure (MoP) on appointment of judges, the number of vacancies of High Court judges has grown to 470 out of the sanctioned strength of 1079. In other words over 45 per cent of the positions of High Court judges are...

-The Hindu Confining it to just the Ministry of Rural Development would be the most retrograde step in democratic decentralisation in over a quarter century. If, as The Hindu’s exclusive on Wednesday indicates, Prime Minister Narendra Modi were to close down the Ministry of Panchayati Raj, it would confirm one’s worst fears about his government’s hypocritical approach to grass-roots democracy for grass-roots development. This was a lacuna that was evident in the ‘Gujarat...

-TheWire.in The right to information and to education give the government the mandate to make policies that guarantee the delivery of educational resources to all. But the Copyright Act needs to be amended to strengthen fair use exceptions for educational purposes. Last August, the University of Maryland University College made an announcement that it had replaced its undergraduate textbooks with open educational resources (OER), thereby becoming the first university in the world...

-The Hindu People’s objections, from Chhattisgarh to Odisha, against large development projects have brought out the real power of the Forest Rights Act of 2006. Democracy is alive and kicking in India. No, I am not referring to the Assembly elections. It is unfortunate that the term democracy has been reduced to the drama of periodic elections and the subsequent reliance of the electorate on politicians and bureaucrats. When these powerful few...

-Business Standard FCRA amendment raises questions about ethical governance The little-noticed announcement in the Finance Bill to retrospectively amend a clause in the Foreign Contribution Regulation Act (FCRA) does little to enhance the government's reputation for ethical governance. The amendment, to apply from 2010, will mean that donations to political parties by Indian companies with foreign direct investment within mandated sectoral limits will no longer be considered "foreign contributions". The FCRA bans...