-The Indian Express   Reduce Centrally sponsored schemes, specify their objectives and timelines.    A Niti Aayog taskforce chaired by Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan has apparently recommended that 25 per cent of the funds under Centrally sponsored schemes (CSS) be made available to states as untied monies. If this recommendation is accepted, states would receive a total of Rs 42,000 crore during 2015-16 itself. This recommendation should be viewed in...

-The Times of India PATNA: If you want to become Mukhiya, Pramukh, district board chairperson or even a ward member of your gram-panchayat by contesting panchayat polls in Bihar, you must have to construct a toilet at your individual home. Bihar Legislative Assembly on Wednesday passed a legislation- the Bihar panchayat Raj (Amendment) Bill, 2015, bringing some new provisions including making it mandatory for candidates contesting all level of panchayat raj elections...

-Scroll.in The Lok Sabha has passed a bill that requires a complaint to pass some 34 tests before it can be considered by the Competent Authority. While Vyapam scam whistleblowers Anand Rai, Prashant pandey and Ashish Chaturvedi continue to face threats to their lives and livelihoods, the Lok Sabha has passed a bill that’s not very encouraging to future whistleblowers. The Whistleblowers Protection (Amendment) Bill 2015, right now due for consideration by...

-Business Standard Ruling party MPs suggest changes to six of the nine amendments proposed by govt to the 2013 Act The government is set to relent on the Right to Fair Compensation and Transparency in Land Acquisition, Rehabilitation and Resettlement (Amendment) Bill, 2015. On Monday, the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) members of a parliamentary joint committee on the Bill suggested amendments that effectively bring back the social impact assessment and consent clauses,...

-The Telegraph New Delhi: A joint parliamentary committee has favoured restoring most of the provisions of the UPA's 2013 land law into the land acquisition bill the Centre wants to pass, signalling a climb-down by the government. Sources said that even the BJP members on the 30-member panel had favoured scrapping the exemptions that the NDA's current bill provided from the social impact assessment (SIA) and consent provisions. This would not have been...