-The New Indian Express VIJAYAWADA: Over 55,000 Anganwadi workers in the State will get smartphones from the Central government soon. Already, training for the use of those smartphones has commenced from September 1 and in a phased manner, the smartphones will be issued to the Anganwadi workers from the FIRst week of October.  The smartphones --  Karbonn smartphones -- are keeping in tune with ‘Make In India’ concept of the Centre. ...

-PTI The government has asked the heads of all departments and autonomous bodies to visit the onlne RTI portal on daily basis, preferably as the FIRst task of the day, to avoid any delay in replying to applications and appeals filed by citizens. The Delhi government has warned officials of strict action for “inappropriate handling” of online RTI applications, after it received several complaints about departments not responding to pleas seeking information....

-The Hindu Governments must be judged on the quality and extent of the public health care they provide The deaths of more than 70 children in one hospital in Gorakhpur and 49 in Farrukhabad, both in Uttar Pradesh recently, reflect the appalling state of public health in India. However, it needs to be remembered that India’s public health care sector has been ailing for decades. According to the latest Global Burden of...

-The Hindu The very foundation of Aadhaar must be reconsidered in the light of the privacy judgment Predictably enough, the recent Supreme Court order affirming that privacy is a fundamental right sent Aadhaar’s public-relations machine into damage control mode. After denying the right to privacy for years, the government promptly changed gear and welcomed the judgment. Ajay Bhushan Pandey, CEO of the Unique Identification Authority of India (UIDAI), suddenly asserted, “The Aadhaar...

-The Hindu Her murder is an attempt to kill an idea What killed Gauri Lankesh? This is not the same question as “who killed Gauri Lankesh?” This is deeper and a more rewarding question. In any case, this is the only question we can meaningfully answer in the public domain. A murder involves four categories of culpability: those who carry out assassination, those who conspire, those who encourage or benefit from it,...