-The Indian Express In keeping with Sonia Gandhi-led National Advisory Council's social welfare approach of rights-based entitlement, the government plans to rename the Land Acquisition, Rehabilitation and Resettlement (LARR) legislation as the Right to Compensation, Resettlement, Rehabilitation and Transparency in Land Acquisition Act (RTCRRTLA). The Department of Land Resources under Jairam Ramesh has suggested moving an official Amendment to rename the Bill that was introduced in Parliament last September. The draft note suggests...

-The Hindustan Times Had the proposed Amendments to the Juvenile Justice Act been in place, the hostel warden who forced a 10-yr-old residential student of Santiniketan’s Patha Bhavan to drink her own urine last week could have found herself behind bars for five years.  The Women & Child Development ministry, which has proposed the changes to the Juvenile Justice Act, being renamed as the Child Justice (Care, Protection and Rehabilitation of...

The NAC lies defanged; the markets leap for joy at Manmohan’s & Co’s charge of a ‘new’ economy How swiftly things change. Just a month ago, the great Indian growth story was being written off. Now, the “new economy”, run by the PM-cum-FM, will sift through the rubble of under-seven per cent growth, find the hidden springs of recovery and throw in some reforms for good measure. A top taxman says...

-The Times of India The Supreme Court on Thursday entertained a petition challenging the Akhilesh Yadav government's first Cabinet decision to do what was statutorily impermissible — re-induct Justice N K Mehrotra as UP lokayukta after he had completed a six-year non-renewable term as the head of the watchdog.  Petitioner advocate Mohd Saeed Siddiqui alleged that the decision to re-employ Justice Mehrotra was in contravention of Section 5 of the UP Lokayukta...

-The Hindu Most people remain at the mercy of a venal administration that, encouraged by the absence of an independent watchdog, exploits them relentlessly   The state of affairs in the country is characterised by rampant corruption at all levels leading to a breakdown in the rule of law and lack of accountability all around. One can say that there is a complete collapse of governance in the country. Something drastic needs to...