-NDTV In Drought-Struck Odisha, Aid Fails To Stop Farmers Suicides Khurda, Odisha: After her husband Abhimanyu, a 52-year-old farmer in Odisha's Khurda district, committed suicide by consuming poison last month, Pratima Baliarsingh is yet to recover from the trauma. Pratima, 45, now has to repay an almost two lakh rupee-loan that her husband took from various banks and villagers.   The district administration gave her a cheque of Rs. 20,000 after her husband's death but...

-The Hindu Despite its uneven history in India, decentralisation is vital to strengthen participatory democracy, facilitate responsive governance and enable public service delivery. Much has been written on decentralisation in India though, on the ground, there is very little to show despite the 73rd and 74th Constitutional amendments. The rationale for decentralisation comes from the need to strengthen participatory democracy, facilitate responsive governance, ensure greater accountability and enable public service delivery according to...

-Hindustan Times After a decade of the implementation of the national Right To Information (RTI) Act, it is necessary to reflect on some of its key achievements and the threats it faces. It has spread across the country, and there is no district that has not received RTI applications. It has empowered the ordinary citizen to get respect as an individual from the government and its officials. Citizens are becoming the monitors...

-Livemint.com The shortfall in pulse production is expected to be around 2 million tonnes this year Under siege over sky-rocketing pulse prices, especially when the crucial Bihar elections are underway, the Centre initially blamed the state governments for the situation at hand for failing to crack down on hoarders. According to news reports, more than 80,000 tonnes of pulses have been recovered in raids across states in the last week or...

-The Hoot A decade of RTI, Part II---How many Indians are using their right to information? Studies suggest that the figure of users has yet to cross one per cent of the population in a given year, but there could be substantial under-reporting. More than eight million Right to Information applications are being made now, 10 years after the law was introduced. That’s the figure that was given by Aruna Roy of...