-The Hindu     The political executive and the permanent executive should realise they are public servants first and work in harmony to achieve the constitutional objectives There is a need to arrest the ‘laal batti' [red beacon] culture in public governance. The Supreme Court of India has been delivering a variety of judgments on matters of public governance, and these have been the subject of debate and discussion. Some of these related to...

-Live Mint Eight journalists were killed in 2013 while covering stories, six of them during the Muzaffarnagar riots New Delhi: More journalists were killed and attempts to censor the media increased across the country this year, said a report titled ‘Free Speech in India 2013' from the media affairs website, the Hoot. Eight journalists were killed in 2013 while covering stories, six of them during the August-September Muzaffarnagar riots in Uttar Pradesh....

-The Indian Express New Delhi: Days after the December 16 gangrape incident, hundreds of rape cases were sent to special fast track courts for a speedy trial. In fact, in January this year, six newly created special fast track courts for sexual offences received over 500 cases within three weeks of their creation. A year later, the trial in the December 16 case is complete. The case is midway through appeal...

-The Business Standard Oil minister says Parikh report sound but government has to take realities into account; to proceed with Direct Benefits Transfer in 291 districts from January despite SC order Union petroleum minister M Veerappa Moily said there'd be no raising of the present cap on the number of subsidised cooking gas (LPG) cylinders a household was entitled to in a year. In the wake of severe electoral reverses for the ruling...

-The Indian Express Aizawl: With the Congress set to form a government for the second consecutive term, the Mizoram government is wasting no time in continuing it's flagship beneficiary scheme beginning with a high-level meeting on Friday to decide on land-use conversion and teams scheduled to visit sites earmarked for infrastructure projects. The NLUP implementing board is scheduled to have a meeting headed by Chief Secretary on Friday, a day before state...