-Down to Earth The scheme's Management Information System destroys local accountability, promotes centralisation and administrative control and gives out wrong data There is an increasing tendency in the Union government to show performances of central schemes, especially social welfare programmes, through data captured by the Management Information System (MIS). It is indeed a matter of astonishment how the MIS data always shows high performances of schemes and programmes, while ground surveys and...

-The Hindu Issues notice to U.P. govt., seeks report within four weeks Describing the Bulandshahr incident as yet another instance of lawlessness, the National Human Rights Commission on Tuesday issued notices to the Uttar Pradesh government and the police over the death of two people, including Inspector Subodh Kumar Singh, at the hands of a mob on Monday. The NHRC said it had taken suo motu cognisance of media reports about the killings...

-The Telegraph At least 2,000 wedding functions will now have to be cancelled, the head of an association of marriage halls in Allahabad estimated Lucknow: Yogi Adityanath’s Administration has allowed a pilgrimage to interfere with people’s private lives, ordering hotels and marriage halls in Allahabad city to cancel all bookings for weddings during the Ardh Kumbh Mela days earmarked for bathing in the Ganga. At least 2,000 wedding functions will now have to...

-The Hindu Amnesty seeks probe into Odisha police conduct Amnesty India has urged the Odisha government to stop police atrocities on indigenous Dongria Kondh community by branding them as CPI(Maoist) cadres. “Allegations of police intimidation and ill-treatment of the Dongria Kondh community in the Niyamgiri hills are deeply disturbing. It is unacceptable that the police ill-treat and abuse people. The authorities should carry out a prompt and impartial investigation into the police conduct,”...

-The Hindu We won’t allow anyone to cut our trees, say the women of Balarampur village For three generations now, and spanning 40 years, Chaturi Sahu, 70, has been unfailingly sending one male member from her family to patrol the nearby Jhinkargadi forest to ensure that its trees and shrubs are untouched. Year after year, her father-in-law, husband and son, who are part of the foot soldiers of Balarampur, a nondescript village in...