-PTI There is the limited scope of contempt petition and the NGO can file a separate petition seeking directions for effective functioning, it said. NEW DELHI: The Supreme Court Monday refused to pass any direction with regard to "effective functioning" of anti-corruption ombudsman Lokpal and disposed of a contempt plea filed by an NGO which had sought the appointment of the country's first anti-graft authority. There is the limited scope of contempt petition...

-The Telegraph The activists were speaking against the backdrop of the govt weakening the RTI architecture through amendments The Supreme Court judgment bringing the Chief Justice of India’s office under the Right to Information Act was welcomed by RTI activists but some of them disagreed with the observation of one of the judges that the “right to information should not be allowed to be used as a tool of surveillance to scuttle...

-PTI Greenpeace India and air visual report earlier in March this year declared Delhi as the most polluted capital city in the world. The Delhi government’s claim of a 25 per cent reduction in air pollution levels over the past few years is not true, Greenpeace India said on Thursday, inviting a quick rebuttal from city’s ruling party which dismissed the NGO’s report. According to a Greenpeace India analysis, “Historical ambient air quality...

-Livemint.com * Only about half of the states have made any effort to reduce vacancies in police, judiciary and prisons * The legal aid system mandates that 80% of the Indian population is eligible to avail free legal services, says the report NEW DELHI: The first comprehensive analysis of India’s manpower and capacity for justice delivery has painted a bleak picture of the ecosystem in terms of its various elements —police, prisons and...

-Livemint.com What works for a small-scale NGO-style intervention may not help the state’s implementation of it without elaborate checks The Nobel Prize for economics this year has gone to three scholars, two American citizens and one French-American. It has generated much excitement in India because one of the Americans, Abhijit Banerjee, is of Indian descent, and all three have worked on India. This has happened before. Angus Deaton, the 2015 recipient, and...