-The Times of India New Delhi: The Delhi high court has tightened norms for Political Parties accepting cash donations without submitting their books for scrutiny. The move is being seen as a major boost for more transparency in political funding, plugging a vulnerability in law which could be exploited to mask illicit contributions. A bench of Justices S Murlidhar and Vibhu Bakhru held this week that parties which fail to maintain audited...

-The Hindu The Election Commission met representatives from national and regional parties on Saturday. The Election Commission met representatives from national and regional parties here on Saturday to discuss a range of issues ranging from the need to maintain a high level of conduct in election speeches to that of protecting the secrecy of how votes are cast at a particular booth. “Hate speeches” and personalised attacks in poll campaigns came up for...

-Livemint.com The Union government has cut the prices of genetically-modified cotton seeds and slashed royalty fees by 74% The Union government’s decision to cut the prices of genetically-modified (GM) cotton seeds, popularly known as Bt cotton, and slash royalty fees, will have a positive impact on cotton farming in Maharashtra, India’s top state in terms of area under cotton cultivation. The Maharashtra government’s agriculture officials, cotton growers and officials at the Nagpur-based...

-The Hindu The Lawyers Collective has issued a clarification on March 10 on issues relating to allegations of violating the Foreign Contribution (Regulation) Act, 2010. Lawyers Collective (LC) has accused the government of making a “deliberate and sustained effort to target and vilify” the 35-year-old public trust and its chief functionaries, including former Additional Solicitor General Indira Jaising, by accusing them of violations under the Foreign Contribution (Regulation) (FCRA) Act, 2010. In a...

-The Hindu Business Line Ten years on, the National Rural Employment Guarantee Act endures because it provides the poor a political voice February 2016 marks a decade since India’s National Rural Employment Guarantee Act 2005 (NREGA) came into force. NREGA is both revolutionary and modest; it promises every rural household one hundred days of employment annually on public-works projects, but the labour is taxing and pays minimum wage, at best. Many charges have...