As the Lokpal Bill gets mired in a tortuous birthing, the debate shifts to who exactly has the right to pass a law Why Politicians Hate Civil Society     * Unelected activists stealing Parliament’s right to make laws, undercutting role of parliamentarians     * Demands like an all-powerful Lokpal directly impact political-bureaucratic class and the status quo     * Rigid deadlines, fasts unto death to press home issues are akin to holding government...

CABE approves drafting of law to check malpractices in schools The provision of free and compulsory education will soon be extended up to Class X. A proposal to this effect was approved at a meeting of the Central Advisory Board of Education (CABE) — the highest decision-making body on education in the country — held here on Tuesday. The Right of Children to Free and Compulsory Education Act, 2009, provides for...

AFTER MORE than a year’s debate on enumerating caste in Census 2011, it was finally decided in a Cabinet meeting on 19 May that all Indians would be asked their caste and religion along with their economic status. The caste census will be conducted as part of the ‘below poverty line’ (BPL) survey, to be carried out by the Ministries of Rural Development and Housing and Urban Poverty Alleviation along...

-The Indian Express   With Trinamool Congress chief Mamata Banerjee resigning from the Union Cabinet to take over as the Chief Minister of West Bengal, the Sonia Gandhi-led National Advisory Council (NAC) today completely sidelined her objections against government role in land acquisition — even for private industry. “The government will be acquiring 100 per cent of the land for public purpose by offering very good compensation to landowners. If the public purpose...

Sticks to his decision to frame two separate laws Linking Bills at this juncture will not be proper, he says Even as the National Advisory Council accepted the suggestion of some of its members for a composite legislation on land acquisition and rehabilitation and resettlement, Union Minister of Rural Development Vilasrao Deshmukh on Wednesday spiked their suggestion and stuck to his decision to frame two separate laws during the monsoon session of...