Sitting and aspiring MCD councillors of Trilokpuri area got a lesson in RTEon Wednesday. At a public meeting organized by JOSH, locals flocked to meet them with lots of suggestions and many complaints about the lack of educational facilities in their east Delhi colony. All that the candidates could muster as a response was a slew of promises most of which were shrouded in ignorance about the provisions of the...

-The Economic Times   An embarrassing goof-up by the Delhi Police saw a Delhi court to discharge top CPI(Maoist) leader Kobad Ghandy on Tuesday of charges under the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act (UAPA), even as it framed charges against him under IPC provisions relating to cheating, forgery and impersonation. The failure of the Delhi Police to get mandatory clearance from a UAPA review committee constituted by the relevant sanctioning authority - the Delhi...

-The Business Standard The Comptroller and Auditor General of India (CAG) on Wednesday called for a level playing field for getting information for auditing purposes. Pointing out that responses from government departments were often delayed, CAG Vinod Rai said “the auditor is not given the powers which a man on the street has”. He was speaking at a panel discussion at the Business Standard Annual Awards here on Wednesday. Rai was referring...

Consumption-based measures don’t accurately estimate poverty Since the publication of poverty estimates purportedly based on the Tendulkar methodology and the 2009-10 consumption survey of the National Sample Survey Organisation (NSSO), many in Parliament and outside, from different political parties, have questioned its conclusions. Concomitantly, media reactions have speculated on poverty’s relationship with fertility, growth, specific schemes, et al. But, India’s poverty, like itself, refuses to classify itself in simple boxes. Beyond the...

-Express News Service Eight days after they began an indefinite fast against the nuclear power plant at Koodankulam, the protesting leaders called it off after talks with district authorities this morning. S P Udayakumar and M Pushparayan were among the 15 people who withdrew the fast, but said their struggle would continue until their arrested fellow activists were released. “Until then, shops will be closed, a relay fast will continue, fishermen will...