-PTI Finance Ministry should appoint a nodal officer to distribute RTI applications to the concerned central public information officer for Processing, the Delhi High Court has directed while upholding the order of Central Information Commission in this regard. The Finance Ministry has five departments-- Economic Affairs, Revenue, Expenditure, Financial Services and Disinvestment. Each one of them have different sets of Central Public Information Officers for Processing RTI applications but there is none to...

-The Hindu Business Line     Technology has improved the poor's access to healthcare. India grapples with the issue of a major divide between the well-to-do and the lower end of the population strata. The challenge of uplifting the ‘below the poverty line' section of the population remains a challenging task. One of the areas which ranks high on this priority list is access to healthcare facilities. As is well known, events related to emergency...

-The Hindustan Times The Delhi government on Wednesday told the Delhi high court that it would issue directions to schools in the Capital to ban sale of junk food and carbonated drinks after the Centre comes up with guidelines in three months. The Centre has told the court that all India guidelines in this regard will be in place by July 21. "The Lt Governor has the power to issue directions under the...

-Frontline The Land Acquisition Bill runs into a roadblock as political parties fail to reach an agreement on the substantive features of the draft Bill or on the amendments proposed. The efforts of the United Progressive Alliance government to broker a consensus on the Right to Fair Compensation and Transparency in Land Acquisition, Rehabilitation and Resettlement Bill, 2012, which has been pending for over a year, have not paid off not because...

-The Times of India Direct transfer of benefits in cash to targeted beneficiaries of food and fertilizer subsidies could save an estimated Rs 60,000 cr and help trim the fiscal deficit which, in turn, may calm stubbornly high food inflation, a study by a government wing has shown. The study showed that policies to rein in food inflation would require winding down of the fiscal deficit, which has gone above 8% of...