-The Telegraph The National Pension System is a disaster for retiring employees, says an apex body of various government unions; pension under existing scheme just 15% of that under earlier one A federation of Central government employees’ unions has written to the Cabinet Secretary to restore the Old Pension Scheme (OPS), stating that the National Pension System (NPS) is a disaster for retiring employees in their old age. The federation said a Defence...
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Punjab: Farm Fires Continue Unabated, Push Delhi's Air Quality To Worst This Year
-Outlook The BJP is lashing out at Punjab government and state's ruling Aam Aadmi Party, accusing it of being in a 'deep slumber' over polluting farm fires. Farm fires have continued unabated in Punjab despite criticism and efforts at awareness, driving the air quality in Delhi to the worst this year on Tuesday. Farmers burn farm stubble in Punjab every year, which worsens the air quality in North India, particularly in Delhi, as...
More »Deliberative democracy -Namrata Jeph and Rajesh Ranjan
-The Telegraph Citizens’ participation in policy-making is an important factor in assessing the quality of democracy Within five days of the announcement of Agnipath, the scheme had been amended 10 times, raising the larger question concerning consultation in policy-making. The Bharatiya Janata Party-led National Democratic Alliance government has taken a number of policy decisions without public consultation — from demonetisation, which saw 60 changes in 43 days, to GST, which has been...
More »Decentralise MGNREGS for better implementation, says study -Sobhana K Nair
-The Hindu Allow more flexibility at the ground level, says internal study commissioned by the Ministry of Rural Development An internal study commissioned by the Ministry of Rural Development has argued for decentralisation of the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme (MGNREGS), allowing for more “flexibility” at the ground level. The Ministry recently made public the report of the sixth Common Review Mission which surveyed seven States — Andhra Pradesh, Arunachal Pradesh,...
More »Demand grows, but DNA tests fall under a grey area -Krishnadas Rajagopal and Sreeparna Chakrabarty
-The Hindu While Supreme Court has voiced concerns over their increasing use to prove a case, women’s rights activists deem the technology an empowering tool Deoxyribonucleic acid or DNA tests occupy a grey area in the quest for justice, vacillating between the dangers of slipping into self-incrimination and encroachment of individual privacy and the ‘eminent need’ to unearth the truth, be in the form of evidence in a criminal case, a claim...
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