-The Hindu For two years, national political parties have defied the RTI Act that they themselves passed. They have not sought legal remedy either by appealing against the CIC order declaring them to be Public Authorities. If lawmakers defy the law in this fashion, it sets a bad precedent. Political parties should be more accountable if they break the law, not less Six national parties in India, the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP),...

-The Hindu With its judgment to strike down a legal provision for violating freedom of speech, the Supreme Court has paved the way for thoughtful jurisprudence in the age of the Internet While describing Sec.124A of the IPC (sedition) as the "prince among the political sections designed to suppress the liberty of the citizen", Mahatma Gandhi offered us an ironic way of thinking about liberty-curbing laws through the metaphor of illegal tyrants....

-The Hindu The Bill to amend the 2013 land acquisition Act is neither pro-farmer nor pro-poor Next week the economic agenda of the Narendra Modi government will face its biggest test in Parliament. The controversial Right to Fair Compensation and Transparency in Land Acquisition, Rehabilitation and Resettlement (Amendment) Bill, 2015 (LARR) that has been introduced in Lok Sabha is due for consideration of the house on March 9. While the government seems...

-Hindustan Times With a number of non-governmental organisations (NGOs) coming under income tax scanner for not filing returns, the Institute of Chartered Accountants of India (ICAI) has told the government to bring them under a single and independent regulatory body. The apex body, in a recent note to the government, has said that the setting up of the central regulatory body would make it easier for it to keep a watch on...

-The Hindu Business Line   Farmers don't get premium for their produce in the initial stages during transition to this agriculture Development of organic agriculture as an alternative tool to address the ill-effects of chemical-based cultivation practices is a recent phenomenon in India. It had achieved dramatic progress in the beginning but could not maintain the pace. The growth of organic agriculture in India has been accomplished by three categories of farmers. The first...