The Status of Policing Report in India 2023 (SPIR) was released on 31 March in New Delhi by Common Cause and Lokniti-Centre for the Study of Developing Societies. SPIR 2023 study explores public opinions and experiences regarding digital surveillance in India. Recent developments, such as the Supreme Court's recognition of the right to privacy and discussions surrounding data protection, have intensified debates around privacy and surveillance. The study also considers...

-The Telegraph Some educationists feel that the proposed regulations might turn higher education into a purely commercial venture New Delhi: Foreign universities ranked globally among the top 500 or other foreign higher education institutions considered “reputed” can set up campus in India and decide their fees, according to the University Grants Commission’s draft rules that also appear to suggest these institutions can repatriate their profits. Some educationists fear that the proposed regulations, uploaded...

-The Hindu Any delay in funds to be paid to States for Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme payments is unethical A testy exchange in the Rajya Sabha between the Minister of State for Rural Development, Sadhvi Niranjan Jyoti, and the Trinamool Congress MP, Jawhar Sircar, on the withholding of funds for the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme (MGNREGS) in West Bengal laid bare a key implementation issue —...

-The Telegraph State is working to plug all loopholes in MGNREGA execution: Source Calcutta: The Mamata Banerjee government has taken up the task of verifying over 2.3 crore job cards, which make people eligible to work under the rural employment guarantee scheme, in an apparent attempt to weed out “bogus cards”, which, according to the Opposition, were issued to misappropriate central funds. The initiative, sources said, is the fallout of the strict monitoring...

-The Telegraph Scholarship pool for OBCs, minorities reduced New Delhi: The pool of poor schoolchildren from the Other Backward Classes  and religious minorities who are eligible for two government scholarships has been drastically cut short from this year. The Centre has revised two schemes — the Pre-Matric Scholarship for OBCs and the Pre-Matric Scholarship for minorities — by limiting eligibility to students of Classes IX and X, and only those enrolled in...