-Hindustan Times A dominant feature of the first year of Narendra Modi's leadership is the quiet dismantling of India's imperfectly realised framework of welfare and rights, covertly, by stealth.   A declared pro-corporate agenda, such as the land acquisition ordinance, proved politically messy and costly. Therefore, the government resorted instead for an enfeebling of the welfare architecture of the country through a combination of fiscal withdrawals, ignoring even legally mandated obligations.   But this attracted...

-The Telegraph New Delhi: CPM general secretary Sitaram Yechury today wrote to the chief election comMISsioner, protesting against what he called the poll panel's drive to link Aadhaar numbers with electoral cards and voicing fears that the data collected could be MISused. In his letter, Yechury said the comMISsion had "clarified" through a press communiqué that Aadhaar card details were "voluntary and not a compulsory requirement for being enrolled on the voters...

-The Times of India NEW DELHI: India is set to have a stronger consumer protection law with its own version of class action suits. As the term is usually defined, a class action suit is one in which one or several persons sue on behalf of a larger group of persons, referred to as "the class". However, the Indian version will not allow individuals to sue on behalf of a larger...

-The Hindu Business Line Cut in funds is a major setback: civil society activists New Delhi: EconoMISt Prabhat Patnaik and civil society activist Aruna Roy criticised the Narendra Modi government over various issues on Wednesday. Releasing a report card on the first year of NDA rule, they said the government is not displaying transparency and accountability to the people. Patnaik said all the explanation that the Centre is giving about the increase in...

-The Hindu Without a head, functioning of Central Information ComMISsion has come to a halt When the Bharatiya Janata Party won by a massive majority in the general election last year, one of the key election proMISes that brought it to power was transparency and accountability in governance. A year later, many of the electoral proMISes made on that front remain on paper — the Lokpal Bill and the Grievance Redressal Bill,...