-The Telegraph The government today set up an expert committee to suggest a new methodology for determining who is poor and who is not, following widespread condemnation of its existing criteria last year. However, the five-member committee headed by C. Rangarajan, chairman of the Prime Minister’s Economic Advisory Council, will also examine the existing methodology, which was suggested by a previous expert panel formed under Suresh Tendulkar. Tendulkar’s methodology was solely based on...

-The Times of India Online hacker group Anonymous targeted websites of the Supreme Court of India and the All India Congress Committee on Thursday to protest Internet censorship. Anonymous launched Operation India with a tweet that said, "Namaste #India, your time has come to trash the current government and install a new one. Good luck." A YouTube video uploaded on May 15 by user Sen0nymous, titled 'Operation India Engaged', issued a call to...

The row over a cartoon featuring Dalit leader Ambedkar shows a lack of critical thinking in the Indian polity. The cartoon by Shankar Pillai that caused such pandemonium in the Indian Parliament on 11 May 2012 when various Dalit and non-Dalit members demanded its omission from a Class IX textbook was originally published in 1949. It depicts Dalit leader Bhimrao Ramji Ambedkar with a whip riding a snail entitled ‘Constitution’...

Dispur has decided to seek the intervention of Prime Minister Manmohan Singh to resolve the contentious D-voter issue as well as consider the case of Hindus who came to Assam after Partition on humanitarian grounds. These issues will be part of the memorandum Dispur will be submitting to Singh, who will be here on a daylong visit to attend the platinum jubilee celebrations of the Assam Assembly, despite the 12-hour Assam...

-The Hindu ‘This will ensure greater transparency in decision-making' In a significant ruling, the Central Information Commission (CIC) has said reports of all expert committees and commissions, constituted by the government, should be made public to ensure greater transparency in decision-making. Allowing a petition seeking a copy of a report of the Western Ghats Ecology Expert Panel (WGEEP), the Commission has rejected the contention of the Public Information Officer (PIO) that the disclosure...