The roller-coaster ride of the government-civil society joint drafting committee on the Lokpal (ombudsman) Bill has ended in a draw, but left both sides badly injured. Whether the tie will be broken when they present their separate recommendations to a proposed all-party committee in July remains an open question. Yet, this is a good time to draw up a balance-sheet of the government's first-ever effort to take on board civil...

The episodes of violence in land acquisition by the government, as witnessed recently in Bhatta-Parsaul in Uttar Pradesh and in other states earlier, occur because patterns of violence are inbuilt into the process. Despite a bill pending in Parliament since 2007, there has been little effort by political parties to evolve a consensus on acquisition of agricultural land for non-agricultural purposes. The law as at present and also the provisions...

-PTI   To protect farmers' interests, India has made it clear to EU that duty-free imports of wheat, barley, lemons, apples, pears and meslin flour will not be allowed under the proposed free trade agreement (FTA). "The EU has asked for duty elimination on wheat, barely, apple, pear, lemon and meslin flour. We have clearly explained to them that India cannot offer concessions on any of these products," a senior Agriculture Ministry...

Optimise number of affiliated colleges under one university. Shift from affiliation to autonomy. Rank cradles. Train teachers. Implement graduate employment survey… These were some of the many smart solutions that surfaced during the maiden deliberations on higher education between World Bank experts and Jharkhand academics here today. The daylong workshop — Higher Education in Jharkhand: the Way Forward — brought together key policy-makers, renowned academics and stakeholders under one umbrella to prepare...

-The Indian Express   The Madras High Court today issued a notice to the Union government on a PIL seeking to declare a recent notification exempting Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) from the purview of Right to Information Act as ultra vires or 'beyond the powers' of the Constitution. A Bench comprising Chief Justice M Y Eqbal and Justice T S Sivagnanam directed Additional Solicitor General M Ravindran, who took the notice...