-The Hindu Activists participating in jawabdehi dharna in Rajasthan have said their protest will continue until the statute is enacted JAIPUR: Information and livelihood rights activists in Rajasthan have shifted their emphasis from enactment of a transparency and social accountability law to an early introduction of the Bill on the subject, following a budgetary announcement in the State Assembly. The ruling Congress had, in its manifesto for the 2018 Assembly election, promised to...

-India Spend/ Scroll.in While the total number of prison inmates rose by 1% between 2019 and 2020, the number of undertrial inmates increased by nearly 12% Three in four prisoners in India’s jails are under trial, according to government data for the year 2020, the latest year for which such data is available. This is the highest share of undertrial detainees in prison since at least 1995, the earliest year for which...

-Hindustan Times The ministry of social justice and empowerment on February 17 updated the mandatory condition for the scholarship. Students from marginalised sections of society will no longer be able to study Indian culture, heritage, history and social studies under the government’s national overseas scholarship programme, a move that has been criticised by the teaching fraternity and the opposition Congress party. “The government should steer clear of deciding the choice of the topics...

-IndiaToday.in Police have booked 20 priests in Tamil Nadu’s Chidambaram Nataraja temple under the SC/ST Act for stopping a woman from getting onto a platform to pray. They also falsely accused her of stealing a vessel. Chennai: Twenty priests employed at Chidambaram Natarajar temple in Tamil Nadu were booked under the Scheduled Caste and Scheduled tribe (Prevention of Atrocities) Act, 1989 for stopping a scheduled caste woman from praying while standing on...

-Centre for Budget and Governance Accountability (CBGA), February 4, 2022 Since 2006, Centre for Budget and Governance Accountability (CBGA) has been bringing out an analysis of the Union Budget every year soon after its presentation in Parliament. This publication aims to facilitate an informed discussion on the Budget focusing both on revenue and expenditure aspects, particularly around the social sectors, agriculture, rural economy, climate actions and provisioning of budgetary support for...