-CIVIC Bangalore, IT for Change, KRIA Katte, SVYM   The government is planning to amend the Right to Information Act (RTI Act) to keep political parties outside the purview of the RTI law. The amendments are planned in response to the recent Central Information Commission order, which held that political parties are public authorities under the RTI Act and therefore should be accountable to citizens of the country. The RTI Act is a...

-The Hindu Asks manmohan singh to take a relook at it Chennai: Chief Minister Jayalalithaa has urged Prime Minister manmohan singh to take a relook at the contours of food security for the country in the wake of the Centre promulgating the National Food Security Ordinance, 2013. Lashing out at the Centre for "unilaterally and hastily" coming out with the Ordinance, she wanted a Bill reflecting Tamil Nadu's concerns adequately to replace the...

-PTI Chennai: Flaying the Centre for "unilaterally" and "hastily" promulgating the National Food Security Ordinance 2013, Tamil Nadu Chief Minister J. Jayalalithaa on Saturday urged Prime Minister manmohan singh to replace the ordinance with a Bill which addresses the state's concerns. "The union Government has unilaterally and hastily promulgated the National Food Security Ordinance, 2013. Though the Ordinance claims to provide food security to all, unfortunately, contrary to such a claim, there...

-The Hindu The UPA seems to have forgotten that the country's trade commitments, including to the WTO, stand in the way of its implementing the Food Security Ordinance The last time I began an essay with the words "in this era of globalisation," in high school, even my teacher winced at the cliché. In junking the phrase, however, we may have forgotten its import too. The United Progressive Alliance (UPA) certainly seems...

-The Times of India NEW DELHI: At the halfway mark, the monsoon shows no signs of flagging and, on current projections, is set to cross 100% of its long period average, promising to relieve a stressed economy and ease the manmohan singh government's political burden. A bountiful monsoon is likely to benefit the kharif crop despite some hiccups in east India and the government is anticipating record rice production with the area...