-Mumbai Mirror On July 22, the Lok Sabha passed a set of amendments to the Right to Information Act, which – if enacted into law – will have dangerous consequences for open and transparent governance. Notably, these amendments were first proposed towards the fag end of the previous NDA government’s tenure, but in the face of sustained protests, were not carried forward. Nevertheless, one of the first legislative acts of the government...

-The Telegraph The BJP has been cornering the lion’s share of all money going to political parties New Delhi: Former Prime Minister Manmohan Singh on Sunday called for a debate on state funding of Elections, underscoring the urgency by drawing attention to how one party has had access to 90 per cent of the money going to political parties. Singh flagged the issue while addressing a meeting to mark the birth centenary year...

-The Indian Express While the Devendra Fadnavis government in Maharashtra can claim satisfaction for doing everything possible to ensure payment by mills — and before state polls, hardly three months away — that sentiment isn’t really echoed on the ground. Pune: Maharashtra’s Assembly Elections are due in October, which is also when the next 2019-20 sugar season takes off. “The current unpaid dues to our cane growers will be cleared well...

-The Times of India NEW DELHI: Delhi Chief minister Arvind Kejriwal announced on Thursday that residents of 1,797 unauthorised colonies of Delhi will soon get ownership rights to their properties. The bonanza comes a few months before assembly Elections in Delhi and two days after the Union housing and urban affairs ministry circulated a Cabinet proposal for formulating a framework for the exercise. The cut-off date for regularisation of these colonies is...

-The Telegraph In a fortnight, we will know how many lakhs will be catapulted into a maelstrom of trauma thanks to the NRC What does it take to prove one’s identity (read citizenship) in a sovereign, socialist, secular, democratic republic? Ask nonagenarian Amar Upadhyay, whose daughter, Baijayanti Devi, was the first woman martyr of the Assam Agitation, and who contested the assembly Elections. Ask Kargil veteran, Mohammad Sanaullah. Ask Manju Devi, the great-granddaughter...