-The Times of India   Team Anna on Thursday began burning copies of the government's version of the Lokpal Bill that was tabled in Parliament today. Team Anna said the symbolic protest would continue till August 16 when Gandhian Anna Hazare will go on fast to protest the exclusion of several recommendations made by civil society members on the bill. The proposed legislation introduced in the Lok Sabha doesn't cover the Prime Minister...

The implementation of the landmark legislation to provide free and compulsory education to children between six and 14 years of age this year onwards has become a tough task for the administration. The Right to Education (RTE) Act mandates private educational institutions to reserve 25 per cent seats for children from weaker sections of the society. But a state human resource development (HRD) department report has revealed that none of the...

Tribal affairs minister K.C. Deo feels the draft land acquisition bill does not adequately protect the Scheduled Tribes’ rights in case they have to be displaced to a non-scheduled area. Deo told The Telegraph he would write to rural development minister Jairam Ramesh about this. “Tribal people enjoy constitutional protection in the scheduled areas. If they are displaced for a certain project and resettled outside the scheduled area, the question is whether...

The announcement last weekend by the prime minister that an independent National Environmental Appraisal and Monitoring Agency (NEAMA) would shortly be set up has been welcomed in the media. The PM indicates that it would be staffed by professionals, will set up a new process for environmental appraisal of projects, and monitor the observance of environmental management plans. It would be a recommendatory body, subject to final decision-making by the...

-The Indian Express   The Allahabad High Court on Monday issued notices to the Centre, UP government, Greater Noida and Noida authorities and the Yamuna Expressway Development Industrial Authority (YEIDA) on a petition demanding a CBI probe into land acquisitions in Noida and Greater Noida from 2005 to 2010. Asking them to file counter-affidavits in two weeks, the court said it would examine the maintainability of the petition on the next date...