-The Times of India PATNA: Bihar spends Rs 170 crore annually deploying 5,000 police personnel out a force of 60,000 as bodyguards for politicians, judges, bureaucrats, police officers, members of constitutional bodies and other governmental functionaries. The NDA government in 2007 had created separate posts of 5,800 bodyguards which were later merged with the police. Patna district police has 1,500 such bodyguards. One constable used to be assigned to each MLA or MLC,...

-The Times of India In a significant move towards transparency, the government on Tuesday said all public authorities should proactively disclose information related to public private partnerships (PPP) projects on their websites. Though the disclosure will be voluntary, this marks a shift from the Centre's stand for the last two years when it stonewalled Central Information Commission (CIC)'s recommendation seeking disclosure of PPP projects and will herald greater transparency. Guidelines issued by the...

-The Hindu   The Supreme Court's reasoning in the Devinder Pal Singh Bhullar case reveals an unfortunate determination to sanction judicial execution because it involved a terrorist offence. If there is one principle that emerges from the judgment of Justice G.S. Singhvi and Justice S.J. Mukhopadhaya, it is that prolonged delay in disposal of a mercy petition, until now considered a possible constitutional limitation on carrying out an execution, will not be...

-The Times of India AHMEDABAD: Many public authorities in the state neglect record keeping and maintenance and there was a need to change the mindset of the establishment at the local self government, theGujarat Information Commission (GIC) has observed. The GIC, in its annual report for the year 2011-12, has stated every public authority should maintain all records in proper format and even suggested that computerization of the data should be done...

-The Hindu     Focus attention on pregnancy and first two years of child's life Stunting can be contained by focussing attention on pregnancy and the first two years of a child's life, a new UNICEF report has said. Stunting is not only about a child being too short for his or her age. It can also mean suffering from stunted development of the brain and cognitive capacity. The report offers evidence that real progress is...