-The Times of India   By failing to honour a Madras high court order directing the territorial administration to notify the Right of Children to Free and Compulsory Education Act 2009 before November 1 this year, the Puducherry government has earned the dubious distinction of being one of the last states in the country to comply. The high court in its order dated August 1, directed the Puducherry government to notify the...

-The Economic Times   What should be the agenda for national renewal? Should we discuss what should be done in individual sectors like agriculture, infrastructure, energy, etc., and plead before the rulers of modern democracy to accept some of our suggestions or should we focus on the decision-making processes itself, which exist in governance today? Who takes decisions in our 'democracy'? Who influences these decisions? Are these processes really democratic? Is lack of...

-The Telegraph   Law minister Salman Khurshid today unveiled a slew of bills to be taken up in Parliament’s winter session to demonstrate the government’s commitment to fighting graft, other than the Lokpal Bill that he said would address the “concerns of the common man”. The whistle-blowers’ bill, sports bill and the judicial accountability bills are among those on the agenda, the minister told a news conference in the run-up to the session...

-The Telegraph A Centre-appointed committee of experts has declared the Kudankulam nuclear plant safe, prompting the group opposing the facility to say it is unlikely to participate in further talks to resolve the standoff. “We have found the plant to be safe and any fear about the after-effects of its commissioning is not based on scientific facts,” A.E. Muthunaygam, convener of the expert committee, told reporters at nearby Tirunelveli today. The comments followed...

Rebutting union rural development minister's allegation of corruption in implementation of MNREGA in UP, chief minister Mayawati on Saturday said that the accusations are politically motivated and misleading. As per the evaluation of MNERAGA cell of the union government, UP has been among the best performing states in last four but all of sudden the corruption charges have cropped up, she said, which shows that there is more politics than genuine...