The Gujarat government had sacked an employee in connection with the riot case that led to 31 life terms yesterday — not the three among the accused but one who became a key prosecution witness. It was police constable Munsaf Khan, who had not only identified several key accused in the Sardarpura massacre of 33 Muslims but exposed the rioter-police collusion. Khan’s victimisation partly mirrors that of another whistleblower policeman, IPS officer...

-The Times of India   The government is reaching out to civil society to avoid being caught on the wrong foot while identifying the poor. Rural development minister Jairam Ramesh has written to members of the Right to Food Campaign (RFC), addressing their concerns on the manner in which poor households are being identified in the socio-economic and caste census. As part of this effort, a committee headed by Abhijit Sen has been...

An RTI activist, who stumbled over words used in his own Affidavit, was refused permission to cross-examine witnesses in the Adarsh scam case. Hearing an application filed by Adarsh society members objecting to Santosh Daundkar's plea to grill witnesses, the judicial commission of Justice (retired) J A Patil and member P Subhramanyam however dismissed the plea to throw out the Affidavit and evidence submitted by the activist. The Adarsh panel had...

When Chief Minister Omar Abdullah announced the withdrawal of the Armed Forces (Special Powers) Act from certain areas areas in Jammu and Kashmir, it was a political move with many objectives. The government, however, had to put the plan on hold. Though the Home Ministry has been in favour of a withdrawal, the plan came under severe criticism from the Army, which argued that a withdrawal, even if partial, would hamper...

-The Deccan Herald   The Kerala High Court in Kochi on Friday observed that frequent hikes in the prices of petroleum implemented by oil companies in the country amount to slow poisoning of the public. The court expressed its sympathy for the plight of the common man. The common man is at the mercy of oil companies, observed a division bench headed by acting chief justice of Kerala High Court C N Ramachandran...