-Live Mint All file notings can be made public now except those explicitly exempted  The Union cabinet on Thursday decided to withdraw controversial draft amendments to the Right to Information (RTI) Act that sought to restrict disclosure of government file notings. The move allayed the concerns of rights activists. The draft amendments would have restricted disclosure of file notings only to social and developmental issues. The government had to drop the move following...

-The Economic Times The Comptroller and Auditor General of India (CAG), in its performance audit of the Atomic Energy Regulatory Board (AERB), highlighted deficiencies such as less effective regulatory control on medical x-ray units and lack of inspection of few types of radiation sources that have greater hazard potential, among others. These need urgent correction. CAG should not have offered advise on the possible structure and constitution of a regulatory body when...

-The Hindu Robert Vadra may be the most talked about property developer in Haryana but the emergence of links between the man who sold Sonia Gandhi’s son-in-law his first plot of land and Haryana Chief Minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda has shone a spotlight on the crucial role played by the Congress-run government in turning realty in the State into a business worth thousands of crores of rupees. Records of all licences granted...

-The Business Standard Union Ministry of Rural Development has decided to include the construction of anganwadi centres in the schedule of permissible works under the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act, 2005. Under the new work, NREGA workers would build about 3.5 lakh anganwadis using funds for the purpose from the ministry of women and child development (WCD). The women and child development ministry has funds of close to Rs 7,000 crore...

-Live Mint While natural disasters grab our attention, everyday events like illness drag most people into poverty  In a small town of Gujarat, I met Chandibai, a woman, about 50 years of age. Fifteen years previously, her husband, Gokalji, had owned a general-purpose shop in the town centre. The family also owned a house and some agricultural land. In 1989, Gokalji developed an illness that confined him to bed, sometimes at home...