-The Times of India MUMBAI: A statistical study of crime in Mumbai in the first three months of 2015 shows that abductions of women rose more than one-and-a-half times (165%) over the same period last year. The response to the right to information (RTI) query also revealed that cases of rapes increased by 43%, although the number of gang-rape cases dropped from seven to four. The data sought by activist Chetan Kothari...

-The Hindu The tragic Nepal quake is an opportunity to learn and understand the threats of great temblors. The Nepal earthquake of April 25 is the largest in the Himalayan region since the 1934 quake which measured 8.2 on the Richter scale and destroyed not only parts of central Nepal but also the plains of northern Bihar in India. Mahatma Gandhi, shaken by the Bihar tragedy, wrote in the Harijan that the...

-The Hindu Over 5,000 violations pertains to distracting ‘part-screen’ and ‘scrolling’ ads The Electronic Media Monitoring Centre (EMMC) of the Information and Broadcasting Ministry has reported 13,000 instances of violations of regulatory norms by television channels in 2013-14. These violations came to light after Guntur-based Edara Gopi Chand, an activist with Media-Watch India, waged a three-year battle to expose the poor regulation of content on India’s TV channels. Using the RTI Act, Mr....

-Economic and Political Weekly The RTI is virtually being strangled to death by deliberate delays in appointments. If you find a law uncomfortable, even one that you supported and passed, what should you do? Repealing it would not be politically smart; amending or diluting it will give ammunition to your critics. So the best strategy is to strangulate it, softly and steadily, until it is rendered lifeless and ineffectual. Something like this...

-The Hindu The State’s recent experience shows that even the worst-governed States can reform their public distribution system and make good use of the National Food Security Act. “In Lalu’s days we had a lal card [BPL card], with Nitish we got coupons, and when Manjhi came we got this new ration card”. This is how Anuj Paswan, a Dalit resident of Tetar village in Gaya district, sees recent changes in Bihar’s...