-The Hindu Civil liberties activists have criticised the media for being an IB mouthpiece in the Ishrat Jahan fake encounter case, while others question the role of ‘activist journalists' The battle over the Gujarat encounter killings of 2004 is being fought at multiple levels. An ideological and political conflict has erupted over the ways to fight "terror." The Intelligence Bureau (IB) and Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) are engaged in an unprecedented inter-agency...

-The Hindu However well-intentioned the Supreme Court might be in its efforts to cleanse the political system of criminals, its decision to bar any person who is in jail or in police custody from contesting an election to legislative bodies is a case of the remedy being worse than the disease. By extending the curtailment of the right to vote of a person in prison or lawful police custody to...

-The Indian Express Legal solutions to political problems are usually too blunt to be useful The Supreme Court has decided that legislators who have been convicted must resign, rather than be allowed to sit through their terms as they appeal their cases. The Representation of the People Act gives serving MPs and MLAs a pass, if they are in the process of appealing - which can take years, given the slow and...

-Frontline Professor Sukhpal Singh, a faculty member of the Centre for Management of Agriculture at the Indian Institute of Management, Ahmedabad, has been researching and documenting the process of contract farming and food supply chains in India for more than a decade. He is of the view that the small farmer is being excluded in the method currently in place, which defeats the very purpose of improving Indian agriculture. Sukhpal Singh,...

-The Business Standard Clause empowers both Central and state govts from their obligation to provide subsidised food in the event of war, flood, drought, fire, cyclone or earthquake The government included much-debated 'force majeure' clause in the Food Security Ordinance, despite opposition from civil socieity and a Parliamentary standing committee. However, the clause can now only be invoked if the Central government in consultation with the Planning Commission decides as to whether such...