-TheWire.in The RTI Convention begs the question: who will save the RTI? Ideally, the 14th convention on the RTI, on October 12, where Central and state commissioners were present, should have resolved against the Amendment which reduces their collective independence. However, I am surprised that even non-bureaucrat commissioners also did not raise their voice against it. The least a convention of commissioners could have done was to ask for information on the...

-The Hindu ‘Several States are demanding a register, though they are competent enough to detect and deport foreign nationals’ Before the Centre rolls out a plan to compile a countrywide National Register of Citizens (NRC) on the lines of the document compiled in Assam, it will have to decide a common cut-off date, a senior government official said. Home Minister Amit Shah reiterated his stand on a wider NRC exercise a few days...

-The Hindu Business Line The seeds regime should protect farmers’ interests, says Alliance for Sustainable and Holistic Agriculture Hyderabad: The Alliance for Sustainable and Holistic Agriculture (ASHA) has called for a seed regime that would protect the farmer’s right to breed, select, save, use, exchange, distribute and sell seeds. The regime should also encourage agro-diversity to ensure sustainable agriculture and resilience to climate change stresses. Referring to reports on the proposed Amendments to...

-Scroll.in/ qz.com Adapted from the West, the law applies only to women working in companies with at least 10 employees. A mere 1.3% working women fit that criterion. Working mothers-to-be in India have it better than most of their developed-world peers, but the country’s maternity laws may be just token gestures. In 2017, the country passed the Maternity (Amendment) Bill that increased the right to paid maternity leave for working women from 12 weeks...

-The Indian Express Defence is a national public good. It is the primary responsibility of the Centre. The Amendment to the terms of reference (TOR) issued to the Fifteenth Finance Commission asking it to examine “..a separate mechanism for funding of defence and internal security ought to be set up and if so, how such a mechanism could be operationalised,” has triggered some suggestions on the need to have a relook...