-Economic and Political Weekly   The Law Commission’s bill on combating honour crimes falls short of what is required. Honour crimes – the illegal decrees by caste/clan/community panchayats to annul or prohibit marriages, social boycotts and even murder of couples – have finally drawn the attention of the State. A consultation paper released by the Law Commission contains a draft bill – The ­Prohibition of Unlawful Assembly (Interference with the Freedom of Matrimonial...

-The Hindu The Madhya Pradesh Vishesh Nyayalaya Adhiniyam (Madhya Pradesh Special Courts Bill) 2011 has received the presidential assent and will come into force on February 15, 2012. The anti-corruption act equips the government with wide-ranging powers to weed out corruption, including the power to confiscate illegally earned properties of corrupt officials and use them as public assets. A similar law is already in force in Bihar. Under the Act, special courts dealing...

The government’s draft report on black money — that has been circulated to members of the high level committee on black money for final comments — confirms that details of the HSBC accounts in Geneva have given the country its biggest black money trail. Citing this as an instance where the government has moved fast in tracing the coded account holders, the report states that the receipt resulted in information...

-The Economic Times   Internet search giants Google and Yahoo! are being investigated for possible violations of the country's foreign exchange law, a government official said, intensifying pressure on them as they wage a legal battle over screening of 'objectionable' content on their websites.  The Enforcement Directorate, which has reviewed data from the RBI, suspects the two companies of having violated provisions of the Foreign Exchange Management Act. It has begun a preliminary...

-AP   Efforts by India and the European Union to strengthen trade are threatening India's ability to deliver lifesaving medicines to the world's poorest, analysts say as the two sides push through protracted negotiations on a free-trade pact.  India's prime minister and top EU officials are hoping their summit Friday in New Delhi helps move beyond disagreements over issues like European labor market limits and Indian duties on cars.  But health industry workers and...