-The Indian Express   Any common man with a little common sense can understand that a person cannot afford to consume 2,400 calories on an average income of Rs 20 or Rs 10 per day, the Supreme Court said on Friday, raising doubts about the government’s norms for providing food security to vulnerable sections like the Below Poverty Line (BPL) population. Justices Dalveer Bhandari and Deepak Verma said the Planning Commission’s calculation...

  Revenue dept issues direction to district collectors to provide details and particulars about all the activists seeking information under RTI Act In a move likely to raise a controversy, the state government is planning to keep all the RTI activists under  scanner. The state revenue department is learnt to have asked the district collectors to submit the details and particulars of all RTI activists from their districts, who have been filing...

As it is drafted, the Bill actually deprives people, and the State governments, of existing rights on multiple counts. The Food Security Bill finalised by a Group of Ministers should not be accepted by Parliament in its present form. The overriding negative features of the proposed legislation far outweigh its positive initiatives. The framework itself is questionable since the Central government usurps all powers to decide the numbers, criteria and schemes...

  The Centre is now seriously exploring ways to bring pre-school education under Right to Education Act to provide free and compulsory education to children between the age group of four and six.   The move has been initiated following a recommendation made by National Advisory Council (NAC), headed by UPA chairperson Sonia Gandhi, which stressed that bringing pre-school education under the ambit of RTE Act would ensure continuity in the child’s education. A...

The Information Commission is planning to set up Division Benches in the State for quick disposal of cases under the Right to Information Act 2005, State Information Commissioner Shekar D. Sajjan Rao told presspersons here on Tuesday. He said a proposal in this regard is already before the commission, and strategies are being chalked out for the systematic setting up of these benches. These Division Benches would function like that of...