-Deccan Herald An NGO on Monday approached the Supreme Court against the Union Government’s decision to appoint Gujarat-cadre IPS officer Rakesh Asthana as acting director of the CBI. New Delhi: ‘Common Cause’, the NGO through advocate Prashant Bhushan contended that the government in “deliberate dereliction” did not convene meeting of the Collegium comprising the prime minister as chairperson and Leader of Opposition and the Chief Justice of India as members to select...

-The Telegraph New Delhi: The government has declared 362 towns and cities in 15 states free of open defecation, with Gujarat, Andhra Pradesh and Maharashtra topping the chart and Bengal scoring a duck. The Swachh Bharat Abhiyan aims to make the whole of India open-defecation-free by 2019. In Gujarat, 167 urban local bodies have been provided with open-defecation-free certificates, followed by 91 in Andhra Pradesh and 70 in Maharashtra. (See chart)     "A ward...

-PTI Amritsar: Aiming to move towards a cashless India, the Centre and states could soon have powers to specify categories of employers who will have to pay wages either through cheques or by crediting the amount directly into the workers’ bank account. “The Government is ready with the Payment of Wages (Amendment) Bill, 2016 which seeks to empower the Centre as well as states to specify industrial or other establishments where employers...

-PTI The platform has also drafted a model Domestic Workers Regulation of Work and Social Security Bill and discussion on it was held with various stakeholders. New Delhi: Civil society organisations and trade unions under the banner of National Platform for Domestic Workers today demanded a comprehensive legislation to regulate their working condition and provisions for social security benefits. The platform has also drafted a model Domestic Workers Regulation of Work and...

-The Telegraph New Delhi: Participating as a volunteer in the Centre's financial literacy campaign for a cashless economy will yield academic credits to students of higher educational institutions, including the IITs. The Union HRD ministry has launched a scheme called the Vittiya Saksharta Abhiyan (Visaka) under which heads of institutions have been advised to give students credits for taking forward the Prime Minister's agenda. "Directors of all institutions should ensure that the necessary...