-The Hindu With the U.S. showing a preference for plurilateral agreements over WTO multilateralism, developing nations must defend the global trading system against transnational corporations The 10th Ministerial Conference of the World Trade Organisation (WTO), which also marked the completion of two decades of functioning of the most recent of the multilateral institutions, ended with an agreement among trade ministers of the member countries that may have pushed the organisation to the...

In its performance audit of the Mid Day Meal Scheme (MDMS) carried out in 27 states (except Mizoram) and 7 Union Territories (UTs) during the period 2009-10 to 2013-14, the Comptroller and Auditor General of India has observed that the provision of noon meals in public schools could not stop children's enrolment in private schools because quality of education imparted is a major concern among the guardians. (Please check the...

-The Hindu A complex picture emerges from the analysis of a year of Mumbai sessions court rulings on sexual assault: false cases foisted by parents, wide variation in the sentences, societal prejudices and vulnerabilities at play, and a tendency for investigating high-profile cases with greater rigour Over half of all sexual assault cases decided by Mumbai’s sessions courts in 2015 involved either parents filing cases against young couples who had eloped, or...

-The Hindu Business Line The new travel policy in Delhi can lead to a commuting disaster if public transport is not able to absorb the surplus Currently, 56.81 lakh two-wheelers and 27.90 lakh cars and jeeps ply on Delhi’s roads, according to the official state government statistics. These figures don’t include the taxis. Which means a total of 84.71 lakh private vehicles. In most cases, one vehicle equates to one person. Let’s say...

-The Hindu The National Green Tribunal’s decision to bar the registration of new and old diesel vehicles in Delhi till its next hearing on January 6 comes as a blow — though a temporary one for now — to passenger vehicle manufacturers. Automobile-makers have, in recent years, been building (from scratch, in a few cases) and scaling up their production capacities for diesel cars, driven by the surge in demand for...