-The Hindustan Times Patna: Union rural development minister Jairam Ramesh has called for "serious government response" and "monitoring at the highest level" in the cases of violent attacks on whistleblowers in Bihar. He said his ministry was working on a ‘protocol' for whistleblowers, and that would soon be applicable to the entire country. In a letter to chief minister Nitish Kumar, Ramesh said whistleblowers and their families were facing constant torture and...

-The Hindustan Times Passage of the UPA's flagship food security bill, a potential vote-winner, is at risk of being delayed with the BJP disrupting Parliament as it seeks the heads of two scandal-tainted ministers and key government ally Sharad Pawar demanding a full debate on the legislation. The food bill aims to give about two-thirds of Indians, or over 800 million people, a legal right to cheap food, and is a programme...

-The Hindustan Times With key government legislations stuck in Parliament because of disruptions, Nobel Laureate Amartya Sen urged the opposition parties to be "responsible" and discuss the issues in Parliament instead of disrupting it. Sen was speaking at a Press conference organised by civil society groups seeking passage of key legislations such as National Food Security Bill, whistleblower legislation and grievance redressal bill. They were aghast the second part of the budget...

-The Hindustan Times The Delhi high court on Thursday sought the Centre's reply on a public interest litigation which alleged that public information officers (PIO) and the appellate authorities under the RTI Act are "resorting various tactics to avoid providing information" to information seekers. A division bench of Chief Justice D Murugesan and Justice Jayant Nath issued notices to the ministry of personnel, public grievances and pensions, Delhi government, Central Information...

-The Hindustan Times It now seems increasingly unlikely that Parliament will consider the National Food Security Bill during this budget session. In a land which for centuries suffered devastating famines, where chronic hunger continues to stalk more than 200 million people, and which is home to every third malnourished child on the planet, this would be one more sad betrayal of the country's indigent millions, a reminder of how little they...