-The Times of India CHANDIGARH: The Haryana government has been providing old age pension to 12,000 people, who were below the age of 60 and not eligible for the same, a report released by the comptroller and auditor general (CAG) recently revealed. The beneficiaries received old age pension of Rs 500 between 2011 and December, 2012, when the state government came to know of the scam. The state government grants "old age allowance"...

-The Times of India The government has provided a back-door entry for contractors and the food industry to corner the lucrative ICDS food supply budget through the National Food security Bill - a move that had seen controversy earlier too but could now become part of the law if passed by Parliament. In a footnote to one of the three schedules of the bill, the government has provided that children between 6...

-The Times of India At a time when the government is facing trouble maintaining its fiscal health and is set to add over Rs 1.25 lakh crore to its subsidy bill for providing food security to its poor, the UPA has burdened the exchequer further by exporting wheat at lower than its cost price - incurring an estimated loss of over Rs 1,700 crore. Sources in the finance ministry said the loss...

-The Hindu Under Section 8 (1) (a), information can be denied on grounds of national security Bangalore: It is hard to imagine that any information preserved in the Karnataka State Archives on the Bababudangiri shrine in Chikmagalur could potentially threaten national security or incite a breach of the law. However, a reply given by the Directorate, Karnataka State Archives, to a Right to Information (RTI) query suggests that it does. In his RTI application...

-The Hindu As the world observed World Water Day last week, Bolivian water activist Pablo Solon narrates how his countrymen forced the repeal of a water privatisation attempt by the government What began as an ordinary citizen’s protest against water privatisation laid out the path for a bigger revolution that eventually paved way for Bolivia’s first indigenously elected government. With worldwide discussions for sustainable management of fresh water resources gaining ground in a...