-The Times of India MUMBAI: Eight years after the RTI Act was enacted, a reality check reveals that accessing information in most parts of the country is a long wait. While most states do not have enough commissioners and the pendency of appeals has only increased, in several other parts of India, the process of hearing appeals has become non-functional. RTI activist Sunil Ahya, who commissioned the survey by connecting with information...

-The Hindu     The UPA government's response to questions on Aadhaar's voluntariness continues to be marked by ‘intentional ambiguity.' Compulsion by stealth is used to camouflage the use of Aadhaar as a neo-liberal policy tool "This debate is ... about our specific disagreement on the meaning of that one word," i.e. "the Government now seek to persuade us that ‘voluntary' actually means ‘compulsory'." That was Nick Clegg in the United Kingdom's House of Commons...

-The Times of India MUMBAI: The flight to campus is not always beyond the seas. The comfort of being close to home is driving several young Indians to different Indian states to pursue an education. In the last 10 years, a total of 37 lakh moved to get a degree, showing that a discouraging academic landscape near home is no longer keeping its youth from travelling to the brighter lights elsewhere. Departure rate...

-Down to Earth UPA gives sops under MGNREGS to attract rural voters ahead of elections WITH most of its recent schemes struggling, a desperate UPA government is pinning its hopes on Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme (MGNREGS) to win votes in 2014 elections. The government is overhauling the employment scheme that helped it return to power in 2009 for a reason. It touches the lives of over 55 per cent...

-The Hindu Rights may be self-evident and constitutionally secured; however, they do not automatically implement themselves In the last two years the highest courts in the country have responded to a mass call for more protection for women. Alongside, there have been many judgments from non-constitutional decision-making bodies like khap panchayats and kangaroo courts sanctioning violence against particular women or curtailing women's freedom in significant ways. Why is it that while there...