-The Hindu More than a political consensus, it is hard data on the absence of marginalised sections from the higher bureaucracy that will give legitimacy to the measure The decision to amend the Constitution to ensure reservation in promotions for the Scheduled Castes and the Scheduled Tribes has been the subject of much scrutiny without paying sufficient critical attention to the discourse of the Supreme Court on the issue. While the Court...

-Frontline The Central government notifies new RTI rules, which effectively curb citizens’ right to obtain information.  ON July 31, the Central government notified new rules to implement the Right to Information Act, 2005. The rules will come into force once the Central government tables the notification in Parliament and both Houses of Parliament agree to it. The Department of Personnel and Training (DoPT) has not published these rules on its website as...

-The Hindu The fireworks that light up the night sky during Diwali bear no trace of the hazardous working conditions in their place of origin: Sivakasi and its surrounding villages in southern Tamil Nadu. The tragic death of nearly 38 workers and onlookers at a fireworks unit in Mudalipatti village on Wednesday is another gruesome reminder of the dangers lurking behind small-scale cracker factories that neglect laws and rules in the...

-Frontline A study finds that institutional support alone cannot help reduce maternal mortality in India.  THE high rate of maternal mortality in India has been a cause for national concern, especially on account of the focus on reaching the United Nations’ Millennium Development Goals by 2015. Although there is a growing realisation that it will be difficult to meet the MDG targets by that deadline, there is a renewed interest in the...

-The Economic Times Cooking gas dealers will no longer be able to enroll new customers as the government has centralised the process and asked the state firms to approve fresh applications after verifying that the applicant does not have multiple connections from different agencies. "Customers can submit applications for a new connection to a local distributor with valid documents but it will only be processed and approved by oil companies after verification...