-Livemint.com The report, titled Limited Access Restricting Expression also makes a case for expansion of quality Internet access and last mile connectivity in both urban and rural India New Delhi: India needs to improve the right to freedom of online expression, according to recommendations of a report by the Digital Empowerment Foundation. The report, titled Limited Access Restricting Expression, and released on Thursday, also makes a case for expansion of quality Internet...

-Economic and Political Weekly Why has pulse production stagnated despite measures to boost production being well known? This season, the prices of pulses (dals) have been on fire. According to the Price Monitoring Cell of the Department of Consumer Affairs, Government of India, the average retail price of red gram (tuar) doubled from around Rs 80 a kg in March 2015 to Rs 150–Rs 160 a kg in November 2015. What could...

-The Indian Express It doesn’t have sufficient power and independence, and seems unworkable. The absence of an adequately independent and empowered body to investigate and prosecute allegations of corruption, especially relating to the rich and the powerful, has been a longstanding concern in India. The Central Vigilance ComMISsion’s (CVC) relative independence has proved ineffective as it has few resources at its disposal while the CBI, which is relatively empowered, lacks independence —...

-Business Standard Interim order stops registration of new diesel vehicles in Delhi In a significant measure to curb the alarming pollution level, the National Green Tribunal on Friday issued an interim order that new diesel-run vehicles will not be registered in Delhi and there will be no renewal of registration of such vehicles which are more than 10-year-old. The tribunal also asked the Centre and Delhi governments to consider not buying diesel...

-The Hindu Chennai: If only Chennai’s unique macro, medium and micro drainage systems had been effectively maintained, the people of this expanding metropolis would not be undergoing the MISery caused by the historic floods. Professor S. Janakarajan of the Madras Institute of Development Studies, who is an expert on water management and disaster risk reduction, agrees that Chennai’s current woes are the result of a “man-made disaster.” According to him, the construction...