-The Indian Express Referring to the recent incidents of two women protesters being assaulted by police officers in Delhi and Aligarh, the Supreme Court on Thursday warned all State Governments and police departments against such action. "We are making it very clear that if such incidents are repeated anywhere in the country again, the culprit will have it directly from the court. We will go beyond the norms laid down as a...

-The Hindu The spectacular failure of the Saradha Group domiciled in West Bengal but also operating in a few adjoining States reinforces certain important messages from past scams. The first lesson to investors and regulators alike is that it is still possible for unscrupulous promoters to design and operate Ponzi schemes built around promises of extraordinary returns that are clearly unsustainable. Such schemes depend upon a steady stream of fresh deposits...

-Live Mint Manmohan Singh urges on effective decentralization of administrative powers to ensure inclusive growth Acknowledging that India's attempts to devolve power to local self-government units have not been successful, Prime MinisterManmohan Singh on Wednesday urged the effective decentralization of administrative powers to ensure inclusive growth. In a speech to mark the 20th anniversary of the 73rd and 74th Amendments to the Constitution-notified on 24 April 1993-Singh called on various arms of the...

-The Hindu     Imprecise estimates of slums in the 2011 census could affect welfare programmes for least privileged groups The recently published census 2011 report on housing stock, amenities and assets in slums, the first of its kind in the country, reassuringly announced that the number of urban slums has declined and the percentage of households in slums has dropped from 23.5 (2001) to 17.4. On the face of it, this reduction appears...

-Live Mint Mani Shankar Aiyar, India's first panchyati raj minister, talks about the challenges the institutions face On Wednesday, India marked 20 years of panchayati raj, an exercise in devolving power to people at the grassroots. Rajya Sabha memberMani Shankar Aiyar was India's first panchyati raj minister, appointed to the newly created ministry in 2004. He headed a committee that examined the reasons why attempts at sharing power with self-governance units haven't...