-Economic and Political Weekly The RTI is virtually being strangled to death by deliberate delays in appointments. If you find a law uncomfortable, even one that you supported and passed, what should you do? Repealing it would not be politically smart; amending or diluting it will give ammunition to your critics. So the best strategy is to strangulate it, softly and steadily, until it is rendered lifeless and ineffectual. Something like this...
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Half of India's groundwater is poisonous -Akash Vashishtha
-India Today Already grappling with the Ganga cleaning project, the government seems to have a bigger problem at hand as the groundwater in more than half of the country's districts is contaminated with poisonous substances. The Central Ground Water Board (CGWB) has come up with a shocking assessment, according to which 276 districts have high levels of fluorides in their groundwater. At least 387 districts in 21 states, of the 676 districts...
More »Diversity deficit across apex bodies of parties -Rukmini S
-The Hindu The BSP is an exception, where the majority of the members in the Central Executive Committee (CEC) belong to the Scheduled Castes. The top decision-making bodies of India’s national political parties are largely upper caste Hindu male domains, an analysis by The Hindu shows. While the Bahujan Samaj Party is the most diverse in caste terms, the Congress is the most diverse in religious terms. Last week when the Communist...
More »With 20,000 complaints a yr, UP tops ‘human rights violations’-Deeptiman Tiwary
-The Times of India NEW DELHI: Andhra Pradesh and Telangana police may be facing charges of human rights violations after alleged fake encounters recently, but it's UP against whose police maximum complaints are filed with the National Human Rights Commission (NHRC). While Andhra and Telangana face close to 200 complaints against their police every year, for UP it is over 20,000. Next on the list are Haryana and Delhi which receive 2,000-2,800...
More »Farm to Plate: How safe is your food? -Priyamvada Kowshik
-India Today "The butterflies will show you the way to the farm." Farmer Sunil Gupta is not talking of mythical butterflies that will appear to guide me to the organic farm I am trying to locate amidst swathes of farmland, some lush with the standing paddy, some damaged in parts from last week's strong winds, others dotted with vegetable patches or freshly ploughed for the next crop. Can one tell an organic...
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