-The Hindu Some members furthering an agenda that isn’t in public interest, they say. A group of 40 scientists, environmentalists and ecologists have written to Prime Minister Narendra Modi demanding a halt to the Chardham road construction work and that the recommendation of environmentalist Ravi Chopra, who heads a Supreme Court-appointed committee to advise on the sustainable execution of the project, be heeded. The Chardham Project (CP) is an ambitious attempt by the...

ActionAid Association's (AAA) national level survey among people dependent on the informal economy during the third phase of the national lockdown towards the end of May 2020 (i.e. between May 14th and May 22nd, 2020) has documented the "nature and extent of the transitions in the lives and livelihoods of informal workers, including migrant workers, during the pandemic and provide[s] an insight into the precarity they experience and the coping...

-PTI/ The Telegraph The bench noted that while Maharashtra police had acted mechanically in the case, the state government had taken steps under ‘political compulsion’ Bombay High Court has said the government made scapegoats of the foreign nationals who attended the Tablighi Jamaat in Delhi in March by accusing them of spreading Covid-19, and that there was a “smell of malice” in the action taken against them. “A political government tries to find...

-The Hindu Several legal and civil society luminaries have issued a statement against the judgment against Prashant Bhushan in a contempt of court matter. Here is the full text of the statement and full list of signatories: Statement relating to the judgment against Prashant Bhushan in the contempt of court matter August 17, 2020 We, the undersigned citizens of the country, express anguish and disappointment at the verdict of the Hon’ble Supreme Court finding...

-The Hindu Office cites ‘diversion of resources’ clause; former CIC Wajahat Habibullah terms it ‘misuse of Act’. The Prime Minister’s Office (PMO) has denied a Right to Information request related to the PM-CARES Fund on the grounds that providing it would “disproportionately divert the resources of the office.” However, a High Court judgment and multiple orders of the Central Information Commission (CIC) have previously held that, under the RTI Act, this rationale...