Huge sums of money are allocated for the rural and agrarian sectors by the Union Government in its annual budget every year, and rightly so. But in the absence of an adequate number of officials in rural areas, can the various schemes and programmes of the government be implemented properly? We will find the answer if we think about this issue deeply and the answer that would emerge should bother...

-The Telegraph 'It is on the verge of losing status as a democracy due to shrinking space for media and civil society' More people are living under autocracies than under democracies across the world and India’s “steep decline” on democratic traditions despite Electoral politics is a contributing factor to the global surge in autocratisation. India has also been put among the top 10 autocratising countries. This is one of the conclusions of a study...

-Outlook India The High Court has dismissed citizenship claims of a woman who submitted 15 documents. The Gauhati High Court recently dismissed citizenship claims of two petitioners-- one of whom produced as many as 15 documents while another submitted his Electoral photo identity card. In an order dated February 12, a bench of Justices Manojit Bhuyan and Parthivjyoti Saikia dismissed a writ petition filed by one Jabeda Begum. She was declared a...

-Hindustan Times The Democracy Index referred to the changes in Jammu and Kashmir and the controversial implementation of the (NRC) in Assam. India dropped 10 places in the Democracy Index’s global ranking to 51st place, with the survey describing the erosion of civil liberties in the country as the primary cause of the democratic regression. The Democracy Index - prepared by Economist Intelligence Unit, the research and analysis division of The Economist Group...

-The Hindu Rue the use of unaccounted money in next month’s Assembly elections New Delhi: Activists working for Electoral reforms said they were disappointed on Monday when the Supreme Court declined to stay the Electoral bond scheme of the government, saying that the anonymous donations to political parties through these bonds could continue for the Delhi Assembly elections next month. A founder of the Association for Democratic Reforms (ADR), which had filed a...