-The Times of India NEW DELHI: Draft guidelines outlining stringent regulations intended to enhance accountability of lakhs of NGOs and voluntary organisations receiving nearly Rs 1,000 crore of government grants every year were submitted by the Centre to the Supreme Court on Wednesday . The guidelines may seem exhaustive for most NGOs and VOs as they said organisations wanting to get government funds must register afresh online with Niti Aayog's `NGO-Darpan' portal...

-The Telegraph New Delhi: Accused of diluting the RTI Act and weakening the architecture of accountability, the Narendra Modi government has gone into overdrive to dispute the allegation that comes at a time it is already under attack for injecting further opacity into political funding. Some erroneous media reports on the proposed RTI Rules, 2017 - circulated by the department of personnel and training (DoPT) on March 31 and open for consultations...

-TheWire.in Inaction of state government to regulate abattoirs in the past cannot be a shield for imposing “a state of almost prohibition” on meat, says Allahabad high court. Noting that food habits are an essential part of UP’s secular culture, the Allahabad high court held that food and trade in foodstuff is constitutionally guaranteed under the right to live. The Lucknow bench of the high court was ruling on a petition brought...

-The Indian Express New national commission for backward classes must address the gaps and lags in the Mandal project The government’s decision to set up a National Commission for Socially and Educationally Backward Classes (NCSEdBC) in place of the existing National Commission for Backward Classes (NCBC) meets long-standing demands. The Socially and Educationally Backward Classes (SEdBCs), and the Forum of BC MPs have asked for its constitution and the NCBC and...

-The Times of India AGRA: From transporting meat only in insulated freezer vans to health certificates for all workers, from forbidding meat shops near religious places and vegetable markets to strict FSDA compliance, the UP government has sent out an elaborate list of dos and don'ts for meat shop owners. The list of necessary infrastructure is so exhaustive, said meat shop owners, that most retailers will have to down shutters permanently. However,...