-The Hindu Hundreds of undertrials languish in overcrowded south Chhattisgarh prisons even as their trial proceeds sluggishly, says an RTI reply With most information regarding prisons closely guarded in the country, in conflict zones — some north-eastern States, Kashmir or Chhattisgarh — it is even more so. The only information about prisons that percolates to public space is about how inmates are becoming master painters, singers or dance drama designers. While those...

-The Indian Express With the Union cabinet having approved the Right of Citizens for Time Bound Delivery of Goods and Services and Redressal of their Grievances Bill, 2011 (hereafter referred to as the GR bill), Parliament has an opportunity to enact a law that would give citizens a way in which to hold government functionaries accountable. An effective GR act has the potential to transform the relationship between an ordinary Indian...

-The Economic Times India may have policy of preferring free and open source applications, but still the world's largest software maker Microsoft and others, including Adobe, Norton and McAfee, have managed to weasel their way into some of the largest government purchases in the country's history. Tamil Nadu, Uttar Pradesh and Rajasthan are in the process of procuring over eight million laptops preloaded with proprietary software in clear violation of India's national...

-The Times of India About 19 years ago, Supreme Court first scrutinized pollution in the Yamuna. Innumerable orders later, Yamuna is dirtier than ever with a mind-numbing Rs 6,500 crore spent to clean the river and the latest plan — interceptor sewers — going nowhere. On Monday, when SC reviews Yamuna's pollution, it could be back to the drawing board. Six years after Delhi Jal Board proposed interceptor sewers to treat sewage...

-The Telegraph Imphal: A book on Irom Sharmila, Iron Irom: Two Journeys, was released by Bollywood actor Abhay Deol, at a function in Mumbai on Friday on International Women’s Day. The book, jointly authored by documentary filmmaker and writer Minnie Vaid and poet-activist Irom Sharmila, was released at Kitab Khana in Mumbai. Abhay, a supporter of the rights crusader, promised to continue his support of Sharmila and creating awareness about her among his...