-The Hindu The Supreme Court order on the appointment of Information Commissioners has had an unsettling effect on the working of the Right to Information Act, an elegant seven-year old law that has immeasurably empowered the average citizen. What was designed as an easy-to-use legal tool for the poor and weak may now be at risk of getting tangled in a web of complexity. The Court has, inter alia, ruled that...

-The Telegraph The Planning Commission has accepted a proposal by scientists to create new academic centres for cognitive science, cyber security and other fields to be shared by scholars and faculty from universities across India. The proposal for inter- university centres (IUCs) is among key initiatives in science and technology planned during the 12th Five-Year Plan that covers the period up to 2017, K. Kasturirangan, a member of the Planning Commission, told...

-The Times of India In a significant intervention aimed at settling a noisy policy feud, PM Manmohan Singh has asked health minister Ghulam Nabi Azad to sort out differences over the thrust and formulation of the health policy in the 12th plan with Planning Commission deputy chairman Montek Singh Ahluwalia. The PM intervened during the full meeting of the Planning Commission on Saturday when Azad took up issues that have led to...

-The Hindu In an atmosphere of mistrust of the government, only an independent safety regulatory mechanism can counter the scaremongering against civilian nuclear power I work at an institution funded by the Department of Atomic Energy (which, however, does no nuclear research: the DAE funds a wide variety of institutions and areas in science). About a year ago, I had an e-mail from a journalist who wondered why scientists (including colleagues at...

-The Hindu The draft law on acquisition strikes a balance between development and justice for those who will be displaced in the process India is a rapidly industrialising economy and society with intense demands for better infrastructure from its people. The last 20 years have seen a great acceleration in this process, with India becoming one of the world’s fastest growing economies. However, for those whose lands were acquired for these purposes...