-The New Indian Express The total number of CAG reports relating to central Government ministries and departments came down from 55 in 2015 to just 14 in 2020, a fall of nearly 75%. NEW DELHI: The number of reports brought out by the country’s top audit body, the Comptroller and Auditor General of India, has come down sharply in the past five years, raising concerns that the Government’s financial accountability is not...

-TheWire.in The mass exodus of migrant workers from cities after the nationwide lockdown has amplified the housing crisis for migrant workers in cities. ‘Low-income migrants’ in cities have always subsumed under the blanket, but arguably vague, term ‘urban poor’. This categorisation overlooks the mobility dimension of migrant workers’ lives where they are constantly moving between places in search of work, following capital. The Government’s own estimates also indicate that with each passing...

-The Hindu Says think tank has not even got country’s map correct Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman lashed out at the U.S. think tank Freedom House — which has downgraded India’s status from “free” to “partly free” — accusing the body of not even getting the “Indian map” correct. The Information and Broadcasting Ministry on behalf of the Government also issued a statement calling the report “misleading, incorrect and misplaced”. Speaking to reporters at...

-Newslaundry.com Newslaundry spoke to journalists named in a group of ministers’ report on ‘Government communication’. Here’s what they have to say. In June 2020, the Narendra Modi Government reached out to “prominent persons from the media field” to help identify strategies to effectively communicate “10 big narratives of the Government”. The initiative, led by a group of union ministers who were “guided” by the prime minister, summarised recommendations in a report that...

-The Indian Express A forest fire which started in Simlipal in February and has been raging for nearly a week now, was finally brought under control. How fire prone is the forest? What caused the fire, and how intense was it? Bhubaneswar: The Simlipal forest reserve area frequently witnesses forest fires during dry weather conditions. A fire which started in the biosphere reserve area in February and has been raging for nearly...