-PTI Reflecting the concerns of India, the Rio+20 summit has said that developing countries needed additional resources for sustainable development and that unwarranted conditionalities on Official Development Assistance (ODA) and finance should be avoided. “We reaffirm that developing countries need additional resources for sustainable development,” said the 55-page declaration adopted at the end of the Rio+20 summit officially called “United Nations Conference on Sustainable Development”. Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, in his address at...

-The Hindu The outcome document or the Rio+20 text — adopted after an informal and protracted debate by 191 member-nations, — took shape on the basis of consensus for its adaptation on Friday, even as the leading spirits behind the document conceded that it was a “compromise.” Yet the much fought-over document, ‘Future we want,’ carries hope for the humanity and an assurance not to go back on the principles agreed upon...

People with income below taxable limit need not furnish Permanent Account Number (PAN), the Karnataka High Court ruled. The High Court order came as a relief to thousands of individuals who are asked to provide PAN despite having income below the taxable limit. Section 206 AA of the Income-Tax Act, which became effective from assessment year 2010-11, makes it mandatory for every person to furnish PAN in their transactions with...

-The Hindu They are both statutory forums that redress the grievances of people but have been placed at the loggerheads following a verdict by a city consumer court. The District Consumer Disputes Redressal Forum, Chennai, (South) has held the Public Information Officer of the Tamil Nadu State Information Commission liable for “deficiency of service”. The consumer forum ordered the public information officer to pay compensation of Rs.5,000 to an applicant, holding that...

-The Indian Express Only the names of the patients have changed. Acute encephalitis syndrome is back in Bihar, hitting the same districts as every year, its victims once again mostly children of Mahadalit communities living in various degrees of poverty, their resistance levels lowered by malnutrition and exposure to heat. And the government response has been repetitive to the point of being ritualistic. It has asked for Central assistance and set up...