-The Telegraph New Delhi: The law commission has opposed the concept of compulsory voting, saying it is "highly undesirable", and recommended that either the President or a governor - and not the Speaker - should decide whether to disqualify a lawmaker who switches sides. The recommendations are among a series of Electoral reforms that the commission, headed by retired Delhi High Court Chief Justice A.P. Shah, has suggested in a report it...

-The Hindu The Law Commission has recommended that newspaper advertisements on the eve of elections be banned. In a report released on Thursday, the commission wanted Independent candidates to be barred from contesting elections, and paid news made an Electoral offence leading to disqualification. Headed by Justice A.P. Shah, the commission submitted its 255th report, on the issue of Electoral reforms, to the Union Law Ministry. Noting that the ban on broadcast...

-The Indian Express From barring independent candidates from contesting elections to making it mandatory for corporates to seek shareholders' approval at their annual general meetings before donating funds to political parties, the Law Commission of India is set to recommend sweeping Electoral reforms in its 255th report which will be submitted to the government on Thursday. Sources in the commission told The Indian Express that the panel has also opposed compulsory voting....

-The Indian Express The Bharat Krishak Samaj (BSK) has long urged the merger of the agriculture ministry with the water resources and rural development ministries, in the interests of better coordination. With cooperative federalism gaining currency as an idea, that might just become possible. Now, the panchayati raj and food processing ministries could join the club, leaving agriculture, for all practical purposes, to the states, as envisaged by the Constitution. But...

-Outlook A hasty transition to cash transfers without adequate banking services will do more harm than good for food security.   As students we had been active in a campaign for the National Food Security Act (NFSA) since 2009. We met more than 100 Members of Parliament to explain why the law was important. Our own belief in the importance of the Act came from having participated in surveys to understand the...