-PTI More than three months after RTI activist Shehla Masood was shot dead in a broad daylight here, investigators are still groping in the dark. Shehla's murder, outside her residence in the posh Koh-e-Fiza locality of Bhopal on August 16, had sparked strong reactions among RTI activists. After the local police's probe into the killing failed to yield any result, the Centre ordered a CBI probe into the incident following a request made...

The pitched Centre-state spat overNational Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme(NREGS) is likely to reach its breaking pointsoon. On Friday, Sanjay Dixit, a member of Central Employment Guarantee Council, slammed thestate government for not pulling up senior state government officials for improper implementation of the scheme. Speaking to TOI, Dixit confirmed that the Centrewill, in the next one month, stop fund flow to at least 14 districts of UP, because of large scale misappropriation...

U.P.'s GDP grew at 7.28 per cent in the past five years, but the State ranks low in virtually every area of socio-economic development. IF statistics on gross domestic product (GDP) are the only criteria to evaluate the performance of a government, the Mayawati-led Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) government in Uttar Pradesh will have to be rated as one with highly impressive credentials. For, India's most populous State has recorded a...

Despite criticism of the appointment process, and pendency , the Supreme Court appears to enjoy public confidence like no other institution As the Supreme Court of India approaches its final week of hearings for the year, a look back shows it has dominated the national consciousness by ruling on myriad issues. The court was conceived by the framers of the constitution to deal mainly with fundamental questions of law. But India’s top...

The Mamata Banerjee government has sought the Supreme Court’s permission to withdraw its Left predecessor’s appeal against a Calcutta High Court order that had described the March 2007 police firing in Nandigram as “unconstitutional” and “wholly unjustified”. If the apex court allows the state’s latest plea, it will pave the way for cases being filed against any erring policeman, officer or government official. The “unconstitutional” tag too will stand, as will the...