-The Telegraph The deputy commissioner’s permission will now be mandatory for transfer of land belonging to other backward classes across the state, as Jharkhand High Court today set aside a controversial order of the government that had overturned provisions of the Chotanagpur Tenancy (CNT) Act. A division bench of Chief Justice Prakash Tatia and Justice Aparesh Singh Scrapped the December 11, 2010, order of the land and revenue department that was challenged...

Poverty is concentrated in the informal sectors of the Indian economy, with people in these occupations amongst the worst affected from the pernicious Licence Quota Raid Raj. This is illustrated by the sarkari controls that trap the livelihoods of some of our nano entrepreneurs - cycle-rickshaw owners and pullers - in a web of illegality. Cycle-rickshaws are an inexpensive mode of commute in many cities, and do not cause any...

-The Times of India   Rampant corruption in government-run welfare schemes, and not just indebtedness, was one of the major reasons behind farmers in Madhya Pradesh killing themselves, a high-level committee appointed by the state human rights commission has reported. After probing the more than 4000 farmer suicides in the state during the last few years, the two member committee comprising renowned agriculture expert G S Kaushal and retired sugar cane commissioner...

-The Times of India   A division bench of Gujarat high court has upheld a decision of Kutch's deputy collector directing the Indian Army to pay compensation to families of four poor persons, who were killed in an explosion in Khavda a decade ago. Army personnel conducted an artillery firing practice near Khavda, the border region in the north of Kutch, on June 27, 2002. The next day, a shell exploded near the...

A non-government assessment has ranked India third from the bottom among the world’s nine nuclear armed states in its ability to secure nuclear materials from theft, with only Pakistan and North Korea with lower scores. The nuclear materials security index, released by the US-based non-profit Nuclear Threat Initiative (NIT) yesterday, is described as “the first, public baseline assessment of the status of nuclear materials security conditions” worldwide. A panel of nuclear and...