-The Hindu Business Line     The Comptroller and Auditor General's suggestion that the CBI be given constitutional status similar to that of his own office is not without merit. Every now and then, the issue of freeing the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) from the Government's clutches takes on a fresh urgency. The latter's response has been to wait till the fuss died down and eventually do nothing. There are no special reasons...

-The United Nations An estimated 73 million young people will be out of work this year, according to a new United Nations report that says the long-term impact of the youth employment crisis could be felt for decades and calls for creative and wide-ranging policy solutions to address the problem. Global Employment Trends for Youth 2013: A generation at risk attributes that high number to persistent unemployment, a proliferation of temporary jobs...

-The Indian Express SC has usefully separated valid safety concerns from generalised fears of nuclear power In clear and ringing terms, the Supreme Court has backed the operationalising of the Kudankulam nuclear power plant. Nuclear energy is necessary for the larger public interest, for "present and future generations", it stressed, while ordering the government to comply with all safety measures. The court had been hearing a string of petitions that said the...

-The Hindu The Right to Education (RTE) Act turned three on March 31, 2013. It is certainly a short period to examine its efficacy, yet it is enough to give us a fair idea of the hurdles that are being faced and have to be tackled to get positive results. Most of these hurdles are attitudinal. The services of retired teachers are mostly sought for imparting "special training" to out-of-school children...

-Frontline   But in Modi's Gujarat the difference between development and darkness is all too visible to those who care to see. NARENDRA MODI may have won three consecutive elections and ruled Gujarat for more than a decade after he was posted there almost as a night watchman, to borrow a cricketing expression. He may have mobilised a massive fan following that is shouting to catapult him into the Prime Minister's post,...