-ThePrint.in DoPT ad for applications gets mixed reactions – some welcome the move but others are apprehensive, say may increase scope for political appointments New Delhi: The Modi government has decided to allow private sector specialists a lateral entry to the crucial joint secretary position in at least 10 ministries and departments, a first-of-its-kind move that has evoked mixed reactions from bureaucrats and Politicians. The position of joint secretary has traditionally been...

-The Telegraph New Delhi: Prices of farm produce remained high and stocks of vegetables and milk precarious in cities across northern and central India as the ongoing farmers' strike across several states entered its fourth day. The June 1-10 boycott of wholesale markets - called "Gaon Bandh" or "Kisan Avkaash" - has been called by 172 farmer organisations in eight states to demand minimum support prices at one-and-a-half times the cost of...

-The Hindu The social activist whose new book on the RTI is just out, worries about the doublespeak in politics today, where rhetoric and substance never match The past couple of months have been hectic for Aruna Roy. The social activist and Magsaysay Award winner has been travelling across the country to promote her book, The RTI Story: Power to the People, which came out in April. After waiting more than a...

-The Indian Express The bullet train project, planned after discussions between Prime Minister Narendra Modi and his Japanese counterpart Shinzo Abe, is being built with a Rs 88,000-crore soft loan from Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA). Palghar: As Politicians across party lines gathered on stage together in Palghar on Sunday calling for the ambitious Mumbai-Ahmedabad bullet train project to be cancelled, they repeatedly cited the word ‘vikas’, qualifying it with the...

-Down to Earth In a recent event, BJP MLA Gopal Parmar said that child marriage is the solution to many problems like ‘love jihad’, elopement and divorce In the light of rampant child marriages and related suffering of women in India, British India debated ‘Age of Consent Bill’ in 1880s when an 11-year-old Bengali girl, Phulmani, died after her husband had brutally raped her.  Since then, India has crossed many milestones: getting...