-The Hindu With its references to Modi, the report is likely to cause more India-U.S. friction. India reacted coldly to the report of the U.S. commission on religious Freedom that criticises the government, and said that it was based on a “limited understanding of India, its constitution and its society.” “We take no cognizance of this report,” a statement from the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) said. The Congressional body, the U.S. Commission for...

-Thomson Reuters Foundation NEW DELHI - A shortage of specialised legal care and protection means that victims of trafficking and bonded labour in India fail to get justice and perpetrators continue to buy and sell people with impunity, a report said on Monday. The study by the Freedom Fund and Thomson Reuters Foundation said charities on the frontline of anti-trafficking efforts were unable to support victims to pursue their cases in...

-The Indian Express Files already piled up on the Chief Information Commissioner’s desk could take up to 2020 to clear. Delay in appointing the CIC hurts the objectives of both the RTI Act and the PM’s pledge of good governance. The RTI Act, 2005 provided for a Central Information Commission and State Information Commissions to deal with appeals and complaints against public authorities. Section 12 of the RTI Act states, “The Central...

-Economic and Political Weekly The states now have an opportunity to set their own priorities in the social sector. In the constitutional scheme of things, it is the states rather than the centre which bear the larger responsibility for social sector spending. Indeed, the states already account for as much as 80% of total outlays in the area. But central government intervention in the form of establishment of and funding for certain...

-Economic and Political Weekly Unlimited growth for prosperity in a fi nite planet is not possible. Ecological economists like Tim Jackson, Peter Victor, and others talk about prosperity without growth and highlight the need for greening the economy on a community scale. Using the "criteria of green economy enterprise" set by Jackson and Victor as a tool, this article looks at khadi production, India's community-level cloth production system. Sumanas Koulagi (k.sumanas@yahoo.in) is...