-The Hindu In reply to RTI plea, Lok Sabha Secretariat says Centre did not follow procedure. A Lok Sabha Secretariat reply to a Right To Information request made by one of the petitioners who has challenged the cattle slaughter ban rules in the Supreme Court reveals that the rules were never laid before the Parliament, which the government should have done before implementing them. Having triggered an avalanche of litigation across the country,...

-The Times of India NEW DELHI: Maternal mortality rates in Delhi have increased marginally -- from 0.37 per 1,000 live births in 2015 to 0.41 in 2016. In another worrying trend, the percentage of teenage pregnancies has gone up significantly. According to government data, three out of every 100 women (3.10%), who delivered kids in Delhi in 2016, were 19 years and below. The percentage of women from this age group delivering...

-The Times of India NEW DELHI: The Supreme Court on Wednesday outlined a three-tier, graded approach to the question whether privacy is a fundamental right by examining the issue through its intimate, private and public aspects even as it reserved its verdict in the case. Prior to completion of the two-week-long hearing that attracted arguments for and against conferring fundamental right status to privacy but which saw all parties accepting its intrinsic...

-Ideas for India Soon after Aadhaar was made compulsory for availing midday meals in schools, the government claimed that the move had helped expose several instances of schools siphoning off funds under the scheme by reporting inflated student enrolment. Comparing official data with that from the Indian Human Development Survey, this column shows that corruption in the scheme is less than what is being alleged - and not of the nature...

-The Telegraph New Delhi: The Supreme Court today asked the government to be "unrelenting, stern and uncompromising" against corruption to realise the benefits of liberalisation and welfare measures, and urged the public to "rise against bribery and corruption". The bench of Justices Kurian Joseph and R. Banumathi also upheld the conviction of former IAS officer Neera Yadav under the Prevention of Corruption Act. "This is the area where the government needs to be...