-AP Transparency noted that in places like Guatemala, Sri Lanka and Ghana, citizen activists have "worked hard to drive out the corrupt." Public-sector corruption is still a major problem around the world but more countries are improving than worsening and the United States and United Kingdom have reached their best rankings ever, an anti-corruption watchdog said Wednesday. Denmark remained at the top of Transparency International’s Corruption Perceptions Index, a closely watched global barometer,...

-Livemint.com Haryana’s sex ratio at birth is at 903, a first in a decade, but the scheme has made no impact in certain parts Rohtak (Haryana): On 22 January last year, Prime Minister Narendra Modi launched the Beti Bachao, Beti Padhao (save the daughter, educate the daughter) campaign to improve India’s child sex ratio and promote gender equality. Appropriately enough, he flagged off the campaign in Panipat, Haryana, which had the worst...

-The Hindu Business Line Millers welcome move, but seek more time to meet new standards New Delhi: To minimise water pollution and wastage, the Centre has notified stricter environmental standards for sugar mills. Under the new norms, which come into effect immediately, the permissible specific wastewater discharge has been halved to 200 litres/tonne of cane crushed against 400 litres/tonne earlier. The final treated effluent discharge has been restricted to 100 litres/tonne. “This will...

-Scroll.in Institutions that provide cheap or free meals are not mere populism – they are vital for the food security of people on the margins. My first experience of a “community kitchen” was in Brazil where we were taken to try out a meal at the Popular Restaurant in Lauros de Freitas. The serpentine queue outside it surprising initially, seemed entirely unexceptional once we had been served: for one real (approximately Rs...

-The Hindu Decade after a Bombay HC order to increase farmer suicide compensation, State still pays affected kin only Rs 1 lakh. It’s been a decade since the Bombay High Court passed an order asking the State government to increase the Rs 1 lakh compensation given to families of farmers who commit suicide. However, Maharashtra has disbursed that same amount to 1000 farmer families over the last three years. The State informed the...