-The Telegraph New Delhi: The Supreme Court has asked the ministries of social justice and health and family welfare to respond to a plea to set up homes for senior citizens across the country because "over-ambitious" children were increasingly neglecting their aged parents. Justices Madan B. Lokur and U.U. Lalit, however, refrained from issuing notices to the Centre, states and Union territories on three other pleas: a national commission for senior citizens,...

-The Hindu Are political advertisements in newspapers on the day of an election legally permissible? India's leading political parties appear to be operating in a legal grey area, a position of ambiguity that they themselves have perpetuated. Section 126 of the Representation of People Act (1950) prohibits political parties from taking out television ads from 48 hours before an election. It does not, however, explicitly mention the print media. The relevant...

-The Tribune The biggest lesson of the last 10 years since the Right to Information Act came into force is that Indian democracy, if it has to be meaningful, has to have a strong, effective RTI regime. That regime has to be equally owned by those who govern and those who are governed. TEN years after the Right to Information Act promised the country a "practical regime of right to information for...

-Kafila.org With depressing regularity, the newspapers have been reporting farmers' suicides in many states. Recently, P Sainath wrote on BBC that around 296,438 farmers have committed suicide since 1995. He also mentions that cash crop cultivators of cotton, sugar cane, vanilla, pepper, groundnut etc account for the bulk of those suicides. According to a PIL heard by the Supreme Court in December 2014, around 3146 farmers in Maharashtra have committed suicide...

-Down to Earth The primary health centre (PHC) at Ajara block in Maharashtra's Kolhapur district would handle just eight childbirth cases a year till 2011. Today, it handles over 125 such cases in a year. The health centre became efficient because of a Central government scheme that empowers communities to monitor public health services. In 2010, the residents participated in a jan sunwai (public hearing) session, in which they told senior...