-The Times of India MUMBAI: Early last month, a 25-year-old management graduate jumped off the sixth-floor terrace of her Malad housing society building. She had quit her job and was to get married four months later. The 25-year-old is among 14 women — 12 in the 15-29 age group and two in the 30-44 range — who have committed suicide in the city by leaping off highrises till August this year. Seven...

-People's Democracy IT seems the Sheila Dixit government of Delhi, backed by powerful elements in the UPA-2 central government, will let nothing stand in the way of water privatisation in the capital. Several earlier attempts going back many years to fully or partially privatise distribution of water, especially the big loan application to the World Bank in 2005, were foiled by vigilant community organisations, public interest groups, trade unions and political...

-Deccan Herald The Central Information Commission (CIC) has said that details of the orders issued by the authorities for phone tapping or any interception of information passing through computers cannot be disclosed under the Right to Information (RTI) Act as it may jeopardise the security of the country. The Commission gave the ruling while rejecting an appeal filed by Talish Ray, a Delhi resident who challenged the denial of information on such...

-The Hindustan Times As news filtered in of extended life sentences for 31 persons for the brutal slaughter 10 years ago in Naroda Patiya, a working-class suburb of Ahmedabad, my eyes clouded over. I remembered my first meetings with the traumatised survivors of the massacre in the crowded relief camps in the city, a full decade earlier. I was heartsick and stunned by their stories of incredible cruelty. I wondered if...

-The Hindustan Times The Jammu and Kashmir government’s fresh amendments have rendered the most successful institute of public transparency and accountability, state Right to Information Act, powerless, triggering sharp reactions from civil society and political parties.   Surprised state’s chief information commissioner G.R Sofi accused Chief Minister Omar Abdullah-led government of making unnecessary changes to make state information commission (SIC) a “toothless body”.   “In first place, there was no reason to come up with...