-The Business Standard Make politicians' asset disclosures clearer, and follow up In an important move towards transparency, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh last year reminded his council of ministers to declare their assets, movable and immovable, and said that the declarations would be put up online. Declarations for 2012 are now online and these should be welcome. But they also reveal that many lacunae remain in terms of full and clear disclosure. The...

-The Hindu M.P. government agrees to demands of Omkareshwar Dam oustees Oustees of the Omkareshwar Dam project called off their jal satyagraha on Monday after the Madhya Pradesh government accepted all their demands and constituted a ministerial committee to look into their grievances. On the 17th day of the protest, Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chauhan announced that the government had agreed to the key demands of the agitators — reducing the water level...

-The Hindu The Centre on Monday blamed foreign non-governmental organisations (NGOs) for aiding protests against the Kudankulam nuclear power plant in Tamil Nadu and reiterated that the government was committed to producing “clean and cheap” nuclear energy in the country. “Foreign NGOs are supporting the movement…some [foreign] NGOs are interested in it [protests]. I am aware of these NGOs, but I am not going to name those countries [to which these NGOs...

-The Hindu “Take again Section 124-A of the Indian Penal Code,” Jawaharlal Nehru said during a parliamentary debate centred around freedom of speech in 1951. “Now as far as I am concerned that particular Section is highly objectionable and obnoxious and it should have no place…in any body of laws that we might pass. The sooner we get rid of it the better.” Ironically, the sedition clause not only remains on...

-The Wall Street Journal/ Live Mint More than 60 million pushed below poverty line in India by healthcare costs in 2011 More than 60 million people were pushed below the poverty line in India by healthcare costs in 2011, said the Lancet medical journal, making a case for universal health coverage (UHC) in its latest issue. This comes amid international debate on the role of insurance, affordable medicines and access to healthcare. The...