-The Times of India NEW DELHI: Drive to any Indian city. Chances are you will wade into chaotic traffic and roads full of potholes. You'll see choked drains, overflowing and smelly bins and streetlights that don't work. The reason for the mess isn't difficult to unravel. Most of our municipal bodies are cash strapped, unable to take care of the city's needs. The workforce is poor. Given the indifferent reputation of urban...

-The Hindu Building on the work by RTI activists, India needs to set up a mechanism that can make for accountability on the sources and utilisation of party funds Throughout the world, political parties collect funds to build and sustain the organisation, to train party cadres and fight elections. Recognising that they are the main link to the citizens (as voters) and, by implication, the mainstay of democracy, many countries, including India,...

-The Indian Express The Supreme Court on Friday sought reply from Uttarakhand and six other states for their alleged failure to implement the Disaster Management Act. A Bench led by Justice A K Patnaik sought responses from the Centre and the Union Territory of Andaman and Nicobar Islands on a PIL alleging the governments had failed to implement the 2005 disaster law in true spirit. The six other states asked to respond are...

-The Indian Express Serkapadi, Rayagada: Vedanta Aluminium's controversial plan to mine the Niyamgiri hills for bauxite received a major jolt Thursday after local tribal people unanimously rejected the proposal, claiming religious and cultural rights over the entire hills after 200 minutes of high drama and suspense. In the first of the 12 pallisabhas or village meetings held in Serkapadi on the hills of Rayagada district, 36 registered voters of the village present...

-The Times of India NEW DELHI: A wife will have a share in her husband's inherited or inheritable marital property on divorce, though the exact quantum of the compensation has been left to the discretion of the judge, according to a legislation that was cleared by the Union Cabinet on Wednesday. The Cabinet also cleared the proposal that in cases where divorce has been sought on mutual consent of both parties the...