Days after the government placed the CBI under the category of organisations “exempt” from the RTI Act, the country’s first Chief Information Commissioner Wajahat Habibullah has “requested” Prime Minister Manmohan Singh to let the Central agency remain within the ambit of the transparency Act as “public interest would best be served by keeping these bodies transparent and accountable within the limits of the law”. However, the CBI has defended the move...

For decades, the victims of communal and targeted violence have been denied protections of law that the rest of us take for granted. It's time to end this injustice. In a vibrant and mature democracy, there would be no need to have special laws to prosecute the powerful or protect the weak. If a crime takes place, the law would simply take its course. In a country like ours, however, life...

-PTI ‘She could approach trial court for bail once charges are framed' The Supreme Court on Monday dismissed DMK Member of Parliament Kanimozhi's bail plea in the 2G spectrum allocation case and questioned the Central Bureau of Investigation for its failure to interrogate the accused for recovering certain documents. However, the court offered her some hope, saying she could approach the trial court for bail once charges are framed. It said she shall...

The draft has been approved and is expected to be released shortly for comments There must be a bar on assembly for discussing young persons marrying as per their choice Village elders have no right to interfere with the life and liberty of such couples To tackle the menace of ‘honour killings' in some parts of the country and deal with illegal orders from by ‘khap panchayats,' the Law Commission has proposed legislation...

The current perception that cash transfers can replace public provision of basic goods and services and become a catch-all solution for poverty reduction is false. Where cash transfers have helped to reduce poverty, they have added to public provision, not replaced it. For crucial items like food, direct provision protects poor consumers from rising prices and is part of a broader strategy to ensure domestic supply. Problems like targeting errors...