-The Indian Express Allahabad: The Allahabad High Court has disMISsed a PIL seeking its directions to the authorities concerned for release of funds to a particular kshetra panchayat under Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (MGNREGA). The court said that it would not like to enter into something that was a policy matter and also because there have been several complaints of alleged MISuse of money under the MGNREGA. The PIL was...

-IANS Kolkata: A youth was quizzed by police on Sunday after he asked a minister why Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee did not visit a slum in West Bengal where 700 shanties were destroyed in fire on Saturday. The incident happened during Urban Development Minister Firhad Hakim's visit to Sholo Bigha slum in the Maheshtala Santoshpur area of South 24-Parganas where a blaze had rendered 1,500 people homeless on Saturday morning. Pratap Naskar, who...

-The Hindu In a small town in Karnataka, government-school students are working to ensure that their schools meet the infrastructure norms of the RTE Act. Can this model be replicated elsewhere in the country? Kishore Mahadevaiah, a Std VII student, is describing his ideal school. “The school should be very clean and neat. In every class, there should be teaching and learning materials and sports materials and qualified teachers. And there should...

-The Hindu For Anjali Bhardwaj and her colleagues at the National Campaign for People’s Right to Information (NCPRI), the Cabinet nod to The Right of Citizens for Time-Bound Delivery of Goods and Services and Redressal of their Grievances Bill marks a significant milestone in their fight for more transparent and accountable governance. The NCPRI co-convenor speaks to Priscilla Jebaraj. * What do you think is most significant about this Bill? Are there...

-The Times of India JABALPUR: When Rajkumar Ahirwar accepted an offer on March 13 to go to the neighborhood adda (local pub) from Deepak Rajak, a casual acquaintance, he had little idea what awaited him. The 22-year-old from Ashok Nagar woke up from his drunken stupor in a government district hospital the next day with a certificate in his pocket that said he had been vasectoMISed. In a bid to achieve sterilisation...