-The Indian Express Bihar order against criticism of government online is against governance. The Chief Minister must scrap it. The Bihar government’s decision to designate “objectionable and indecent” comments made online against the state government or its ministers, MLAs, MPs and officials as cyber-crime is one more example of elected governments abusing their power to buy themselves a Teflon shield against criticism, dissent and accountability. In November last year, the Kerala government...

-Down to Earth With an estimated 85 million jobs to be lost to automation by 2025, the development divide is set to deepen One year into the novel coonavirus disease (COVID-19) pandemic, crowds returning to markets bring us a sense of normalcy returning to our lives. But there is an uncomfortable feeling that continues to hit us. From the neighbourhood grocery shop to the shopping malls, the thinning of the employed workforce is...

-PTI/ The Hindu The points were part of the report of India’s seventh Trade Policy Review (TPR), which began on January 6 at the World Trade Organization India has implemented several measures to facilitate trade, such as simplification of procedures and customs clearances for imports and exports, according to WTO. Geneva-based World Trade Organisation (WTO) said that the other trade-facilitation initiatives introduced by India since 2015 include introduction of Indian Customs Electronic Gateway...

-Frontline.in Interview with Nikhil Dey, rights activist and founder of the Mazdoor Kisan Shakti Sangathan, on 15 years of the Right to Information Act. India’s Right to Information (RTI) Act, which was promulgated in 2005, is considered one of the most advanced and powerful pieces of rights legislation in the world. Although an evolved law that forces governments to become more transparent and accountable, almost every regime has shown reluctance to uphold...

-The Hindu The government’s economic recovery hype is off track and this is not a time for fiscal conservatism Preliminary evidence that India’s economy contracted by 7.5% in the second quarter of financial year 2020-21 was, as news, both good and bad. Good because that figure is far lower than the 23.9% contraction registered in the first quarter of this financial year. Bad because a 7.5% second quarter contraction is high both...