-Hindustan Times Audit report says most food Testing labs in country are ill-equipped. The Comptroller and Auditor General (CAG), India’s constitutionally mandated federal auditor, has cited serious lapses in enforcing food-safety norms in the country, which, it said, could be putting public health at risk. A majority of the country’s food-Testing laboratories were poorly managed, the report said. It found that 65 of the 72 state-wide food laboratories were not accredited to the...

-The Telegraph New Delhi: Pollution may be at alarming levels in Delhi but the state transport department does not have annual data on the number of "Pollution Under Control " certificates issued by it, the Central Information Commission has lamented. The CIC has pulled up department officials for "sheer indifference" and directed them "to compile and publish" the numbers of PUC certificates after verifying that the vehicles meet emission norms. An RTI applicant,...

-The Hindu Low conviction rates and a lack of a lawful definition of crime mark criminal administration in India Police reform in India has been concerned with political interference ever since the landmark Supreme Court judgement, in 2006, on the subject. The focus should really be on reorganising criminal administration. The annual publication of the National Crime Records Bureau (NCRB), “Crime in India 2016”, which was released recently, presents a dismal picture of...

-The Hindu Business Line After decades of neglect, Delhi’s government schools are finally turning the page with much-needed improvements to facilities and teaching methods. But problems such as staff shortage and a broken primary education system refuse to go away easily Delhi’s bustling IP Extension has a familiar skyline — a linear arrangement of ageing residential complexes. A gleaming new building in their midst catches the eye. Until recently, the Rajkiya Sarvodaya...

-Down to Earth As allegedly fake pesticides prove ineffective in controlling pests, farmers resort to indiscriminate spraying After a series of farmer suicides in Odisha’s Bargarh district over pest attack, the state government finally acknowledged that there are nearly 200,000 hectares of area, on which paddy is grown, has been damaged across nine districts. According to farmers, spurious pesticides were in use which proved ineffective to control Brown Plant Hopper, which first...