-Outlook The UPA government seems too keen on giving the press council what Katju seeks Powerful Enough? Among the powers the PCI now wields are the following: Power to censure, warn and admonish on receipt of a complaint, after giving the publication a chance to be heard The same powers as a civil court to summon and enforce attendance, examine persons under oath ...

-Down to Earth They turn a blind eye to laws overriding tribal rights, complains national commission GOVERNORS of states with sizeable tribal population have come in for indictment over not performing their special administrative roles. To ensure partial autonomy in tribal areas, the Constitution entrusts governors with immense powers to supervise the administration and governance in such areas. They can allow or disallow any law or development programme in tribal areas to...

-The Telegraph The director-general of the National Investigation Agency, Sharad C. Sinha, was today selected member of the National Human Rights Commission at a meeting attended by Prime Minister Manmohan Singh. The Leader of the Opposition in the Lok Sabha, Sushma Swaraj, is understood to have given dissenting notes against two appointments to the NHRC, one being that of Sinha, which was not accepted. No decision has been taken on the other...

-PTI BHUBANESWAR: Former Odisha minister Raghunath Mohanty and his wife were arrested from neighbouring West Bengal in a dowry torture case slapped by their daughter-in-law, police said on Saturday. "Mohanty and his wife Pritilata Mohanty were arrested from a place in Howrah district of West Bengal by a team of human rights protection cell of Odisha police," highly placed police sources said here. Acting on a specific information, a "crack" team of HRPC...

-The Hindu   When the Supreme Court has recognised the right to go on hunger strike, why is Irom Sharmila's protest against impunity of the armed forces a criminal act? Over the past 12 years, Irom Sharmila Chanu has carried on an inconceivable hunger strike, which has seen her body wither and her skin turn pale. During this period, she has emerged as the face of the civilian resistance to the immunity, and...