-TheWire.in Swaraj Abhiyan founder Prashant Bhushan discusses the Essar tapes and other scams, the role of whistleblowers and his fallout with Arvind Kejriwal. Celebrated lawyer-activist Prashant Bhushan has just notched up another victory with the Supreme Court-appointed panel decreeing there was prima facie evidence that former CBI director Ranjit Sinha had attempted to influence the investigation into the coal block allocation scam under the then UPA government. The court’s observation was based...

-Governance Now The draft for the eagerly awaited new Education Policy recommends amendments in the right to free and compulsory education Act 2009. Among its specific recommendations are:   * The no detention policy must be continued for children until completion of class 5. * At the upper primary level, the system of detention shall be restored subject to the provision of remedial coaching and at least two extra chances being offered to...

-The Times of India NEW DELHI: At a time when 'Udta Punjab' has put the spotlight on the state's crippling drug problem, not much is being done to rehabilitate addicts, according to RTI queries. At least 30 rehab centres run by the Punjab government or linked to it have not received a single addict sent on court orders, Punjab's health department admitted in its response to RTI questions. Sections 27, 39 and...

-The Hindu India’s first IPR policy trots out the worn western fairy tale that more IP means innovation, and encourages the pointless privatisation of indigenous knowledge India’s National Intellectual Property Rights (IPR) Policy, released in mid-May, is a bewildering document. There are two ways to read this policy. The first is as a gigantic exercise in dissimulation, with a terse declaration — India is not changing its IPR laws — tucked inside...

-The Asian Age The Supreme Court on Friday directed the Centre and state governments not to hide behind the “smokescreen of lack of funds” and ordered wide-ranging relief for drought-affected people in 12 states. These include mid-day meals during the summer vacation, addition of egg or milk to the mid-day meal menu, to universalise foodgrain rations and ensure adequate and timely release of funds for NREGA. It also ordered implementation of...