-Forbes India Why the recent Supreme Court ruling threatens to kill citizens’ Right to Information The Supreme Court has placed the Central Information Commission (CIC), the apex body to deal with appeals regarding RTI, as well as the Information Commissions across the states in a fine pickle. On September 13, a division bench of the Supreme Court, chaired by Justice AK Patnaik and Justice Swatanter Kumar, passed an order which would fundamentally change...

-The Telegraph The government today said there was no ban on issuing fresh cooking gas connections but there was a three-week break, pending elimination of duplicate connections and update of software to take into account the six-a-year subsidy cap. State-owned oil firms are carrying out a nationwide exercise to eliminate multiple connections at the same address. Only one LPG connection is allowed at one address while the rest are being disconnected. “When a...

-The Times of India The ministerial panel vetting the land acquisition bill witnessed strong demand on Thursday that it kick in retrospectively. Urban development minister Kamal Nath is reported to have argued that a window for applying the new bill for old cases of acquisition should be retained. If the demand gains traction, it could reopen a significant section of the draft legislation which initially had the retrospective clause but was later...

-The Times of India The government on Thursday seized upon Supreme Court's ruling that auctions are not mandatory for allocating natural resources as a validation of its stand against the comptroller and auditor general's (CAG) findings in the 2G spectrum and Coalgate cases. Talking to media after the verdict, telecom minister Kapil Sibal and law minister Salman Khurshid welcomed the judgment, suggesting it had vindicated the government's position. Sibal said all constitutional authorities...

-PTI Ahead of a meeting of Group of Ministers, Rural Development Ministry sought to allay apprehensions of industries and infrastructure sectors over the controversial land acquisition bill, contending that the amendments in the legislation are investor-friendly. In a note circulated to the members of the Group of Ministers (GoM) headed by Agriculture Minister Sharad Pawar, the Ministry highlighted that the requirement of consent of all for acquiring land has been diluted and...