-The Hindu The figure quoted by the government fails to completely take into consideration deliveries in private hospitals. Female foeticide continues to increase at an alarming rate, as per the Sample Registration System (SRS) data released in July for the period 2015-2017. The sex ratio at birth (SRB) has been dropping continuously since Census 2011, coming down from 909 girls per thousand boys in 2011-2013 to 896 girls in 2015-2017, to quote...

-The Hindu Business Line/ Networkideas.org While the neoliberal focus has been on attempts to “shrink the state” on the grounds of corruption and inefficiency, sensible people have long recognised that high levels of public employment tend to be associated with better quality of life for people in a society. After all, the essential public services, from infrastructure to amenities, to security to social services, mostly have to be delivered by governments....

-The Telegraph 'The existing system of the HRD minister chairing the panel for selecting IIT directors was a bad practice' New Delhi: A panel of educationists set up by the University Grants Commission has found flaws with the existing system of selecting academic heads of institutes of higher learning and called for a review, implying that politicians should not be part of the process. The recommendations came in a report the four-member committee,...

-The Hindu When data is monetised, as the Economic Survey advocates, it becomes toxic and harms public interest Last year, I was denied information requested under the Right to Information Act (RTI) 2005. I had sought the names of agencies empanelled by the Unique Identification Authority of India for an “image makeover” and the expenditure on it. It was denied by invoking the exemption clauses of Sections 8(d) and 8(j), respectively, i.e....

-The Times of India blog Last week, NDA government succeeded in getting contentious amendments to RTI Act passed by Parliament. Social activist Aruna Roy, who was at the forefront of the movement to persuade Parliament to enact the original law, speaks to Anindo Dey about the development: * The government said the RTI Act amendments set right the anomaly of the Information Commissions, which are statutory bodies, being treated on a par...