Attacked by the opposition BJP, the Sonia Gandhi-LED National Advisory Council has put up a strong defence of its draft communal violence bill. Backing the bill's intentions, the council members have said that the law is intended not to blame the majority community in case of attacks on a 'non-dominant group' but to ensure that the administration works impartially. They said communal and targeted violence spreads mainly when the public officials charged...

-The Hindu   As auditor to a nation whose institutions of oversight are weak and underdeveloped, the Comptroller and Auditor General of India is more than just the keeper of our national accounts. It is, in many ways, a conscience-keeper and a watchdog, which may not bite but can bark and warn ordinary citizens that something is amiss in the wider affairs of state. Like the Election Commission and the Supreme...

-The United Nations   An estimated 10 million people across the Horn of Africa are facing a severe food crisis following a prolonged drought in the region, with child malnutrition rates in some areas twice the emergency threshold amid high food prices that have left families desperate, the United Nations reported today. In some areas of Djibouti, Ethiopia, Kenya, Somalia, Ethiopia and Uganda, drought conditions are the worst in 60 years, the...

The officials were released by Balisahi residents with a warning that they should not return to acquire land In a dramatic turn of events, senior administration and police officials of Orissa's Jagatsinghpur district had a bitter experience on Monday when they went to carry out land acquisition for the proposed mega steel project of Posco. Women took the lead in expressing their anger when they threw their broomsticks at the Additional District...

-PTI   To step in to prevent “more Nandigrams” The Supreme Court on Monday criticised the Uttar Pradesh government for acquiring prime agricultural land to build luxury flats in Greater Noida and questioned the invoking of an urgency clause that bars farmers from raising objections. It noted it would step in to prevent “more Nandigrams.” “Whose residential use are these flats for? Who is building them? What are the prices? We want to...