-Outlook The Centre today told the Supreme Court that there has been large-scale violation in MNREGA implementation in Uttar Pradesh for which CBI probe has been sought by an NGO. Additional Solicitor General Indira Jaising told a bench comprising Chief Justice P Sathasivam and Justice Ranjana Prakash Desai that details of the violation have been documented in the affidavit filed by the Centre. The ASG said the money which is released from the...

-The Hindu Unlike many countries that have passed laws to protect citizens' privacy, the Indian state is collecting more and more information about private individuals under various pretexts and restricting their right to access their own information Does a serving employee of a premier intelligence agency have the right to inspect his own biodata which that agency handed over to another public authority? Then again, does a former employee of that agency...

-The Hindu     Genetically modified crops, whose ecological effects are irreversible, could become a mainstay of Indian agriculture thanks to collusion between the government and the biotech industry The final report of the Supreme Court-appointed Technical Expert Committee (TEC) on field trials of genetically modified crops is packed with revelations on what is wrong with institutional governance and regulation in India when it comes to GMOs (genetically-modified organisms). The report's release late last...

-The Hindu     While denying voting rights to undertrials contradicts the principle that a person is innocent until proved guilty, disenfranchising convicts will aggravate their alienation from society The Supreme Court's decision last month in Chief Election Commissioner v. Jan Chaukidar has attracted significant attention for its perceived potential to address the criminalisation of politics. Justices A.K Patnaik and S.J. Mukhopadhaya ruled that since one of the conditions to be a candidate under...

-The Hindustan Times   Food minister KV Thomas on Wednesday introduced a National Food Security Bill, which proposes to give the country's three-fourth population the right to highly-subsidised food, which will replace the government's Ordinance. Thomas introduced the fresh Bill after withdrawing an earlier one. The government had last month passed a food security ordinance, a provision to enact laws when Parliament is not in session, to give 67% of Indians, or about 800...