The National Advisory Council amends its draft Prevention of Communal and Targeted Violence Bill, but some activists are still dissatisfied. THE National Advisory Council's (NAC) draft Prevention of Communal and Targeted Violence (Access to Justice and Reparations) Bill has elicited great expectations and also disappointment within the political class and civil society ( Frontline, July 1, 2011). With its deadline seeking comments from civil society (June 4) having passed, it...
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Beyond enquiry by V Venkatesan
The Central government exempts the CBI from the Right To Information Act's purview without seeking Parliament's approval. THE Right to Information Act, 2005, originally exempted 18 public authorities under the Central government from disclosure of information. Section 24 of the Act provided this exemption to intelligence and security organisations specified in the Second Schedule of the Act, and permitted the Central government to amend the Schedule, by notification in the...
More »Army not to fight or engage Naxals: Antony
-The Hindu In the backdrop of suggestions for the Army to fill the breach after the Supreme Court declared ‘Salwa Judum' illegal and the paramilitary forces being repeatedly attacked, Defence Minister A.K. Antony ruled out such a course. However, the Army would react in self-defence if it was attacked, he told journalists here on the sidelines of a seminar on defence acquisition on Tuesday. “We are there not to fight or...
More »India’s soil crisis: Land is weakening and withering by M Rajshekhar
In his fields, Badhia Naval Singh , a farmer tilling 8 bighas of land in the Bagli tehsil in Madhya Pradesh, has been seeing something strange for a while now. Earlier, if he pulled out a tuft of grass, he would see earthworms . "Ab woh dikhna bandh ho gaye hain (they don't show up any longer)," says the 45-yearold . Also, he says, when he ploughed earlier, the soil...
More »Price of Singur by Anup Sinha
The land problem in Singur was a turning point in the political fortunes of both the Left Front and the Trinamul Congress. The story is far from complete, and the legal twists and turns between Mamata Banerjee and the house of Tata could unfold in surprising ways. The issue of adequate compensation for farmers, who had to part with their land, is still an open question to which many well...
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