-The Indian Express The last two years have seen some progress in expediting completion of unfinished major and minor canal projects. Pune: Sustained efforts over the last two years to improve irrigation access for farmers in India seem to have begun showing results, at least in terms of creation of physical infrastructure. The Narendra Modi government had, in 2016, embarked on a mission to complete all unfinished major and medium irrigation projects – some...

-The Times of India If you are an organic farmer, now you cannot sell your produce through a retailer or other channels unless it is certified to be organic and carries a label with information on the organic status of the produce. The Food Safety and Standards Authority of India (FSSAI) has issued a notification recently laying down the requirements organic foods need to comply with. But farmer groups believe making certification...

-PTI New Delhi: Information commissioner Sridhar Acharyalu has questioned the way chief information commissioner R.K. Mathur dissolved and reconstituted a bench that was hearing complaints against some political parties. Acharyalu said the move raised "serious questions" about the "independence of individual information commissioner(s), who can be part of a bench for some time and not for some other, against his will, without his consent and without a reason or without giving a...

-The Indian Express Several commissions were either not functioning or functioning at reduced capacity as posts of Commissioners, including those of Chief Information Commissioners, were vacant during the period under review. A recent study to assess the performance of Information Commissions (ICs) by non-government organisations Satark Nagrik Sangathan (SNS) and Centre for Equity Studies (CES) has found several shortcomings in their functioning, which impact the effectiveness of the Right to Information...

  A national-level public hearing, which was organized at the Gandhi Peace Foundation (Delhi) on 15th March, 2018, has revealed that the intended beneficiaries of various entitlement-based welfare schemes and programmes of the Central government are witnessing difficulties and impediments in accessing the benefits and services. During the public hearing, which was organized by the Right to Food Campaign along with partnering grassroots-level organizations, poor and marginalized citizens from across 14 states...