-The Times of India NEW DELHI: Will the Lokpal become just another retirement home for ex-bureaucrats? Government rules say only serving and retired secretary-level officers to the government of India and their equivalent can become non-judicial members, ensuring that the fledgling Lokpal goes the way of the Central Information Commission and power and telecom regulators like CERC and Trai. Describing this as "unfortunate" and "illegitimate", activists under the aegis of the National...

-The Hindu There is little transparency in the regularisation of unauthorised colonies in Delhi Earlier this week, acting on behalf of the Delhi Government, the Chief Minister wrote a letter to the President asking for a probe against the former Chief Minister, reportedly for "alleged irregularities in the regularisation of unauthorised colonies in Delhi". This follows the Delhi Lokayukta's finding in November 2013 that the "issuance of the PRC [provisional regularisation certificates]...

-The World Bank About 7.8 million rural people are expected to directly benefit from the project NEW DELHI: The government of India and the World Bank today signed a $500 million credit agreement to improve piped water supply and sanitation services through decentralized delivery systems in the states of Assam, Bihar, Jharkhand and Uttar Pradesh. The credit agreement for the Rural Water Supply and Sanitation (RWSS) Project for Low Income States was signed...

-Down to Earth Activists demand its early passage to check discrimination against affected people in education, healthcare, employment, travel and insurance A much-awaited Bill, meant to protect people living with HIV/AIDS from all types of discrimination, was introduced in Rajya Sabha on Tuesday. The Bill, drafted in 2006, was introduced by Union health minister Ghulam Nabi Azad. The Human Immunodeficiency Virus and Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome (Prevention and Control) Bill or the HIV/AIDS Bill,...

-The Times of India NEW DELHI: Senior advocate Harish Salve startled the Supreme Court on Monday by presenting a report which established a direct link between death of 3,000 children annually in Delhi to the increased pollution level attributable mainly to more diesel cars on the roads. Salve said subsidized diesel price was almost at par with CNG, leading to a massive increase in sale of diesel cars. As a result, emissions...