-The Indian Express The Supreme Court on Thursday ruled that the Vedanta Group's bauxite mining project in the Niyamgiri Hills of Orissa will have to get the gram sabha's clearance on whether it affects the cultural and religious rights of the tribals and forest dwellers living in Rayagada and Kalahandi districts. While the gram sabha's nod is compulsory under the Forest Rights Act, the court made it clear that the Act confers...

-The Hindu By hanging Afzal Guru secretly so that he could not approach the courts, and ignoring the pending case that could have affected his sentence, the Home Minister acted illegally On March 6, 2013, in response to an RTI request, the President’s Secretariat made available documents pertaining to Ajmal Kasab’s mercy petition. People from across the country and the globe had written to the President asking that he use his clemency...

-Economic and Political Weekly The committee of inquiry headed by justice Verma is a landmark for the way in which it has inscribed into the very foundations of law, the equality and liberty of India’s women citizens. To uphold the constitutional guarantees afforded to women, it is essential that the rights given to working women in the Vishaka judgment (also delivered by justice Verma) are not elided or compromised, either by...

-The Indian Express Financial justification for Aadhaar doesn’t require it to cover entire population or have multiple uses Some people think of Aadhaar as a magic bullet for India. Others oppose it for privacy concerns. The government has showcased Aadhaar as a tool for targeted subsidy payments. As with all government programmes, the public should be sceptical, and the government must demonstrate through a cost-benefit analysis that the expenditure of public money...

-Outlook The Gujarat High Court on Friday struck down a directive of the Election Commission of India terming the limitations on cash movement above a stated limit as unconstitutional The Gujarat High Court on Friday struck down a directive of the Election Commission of India terming the limitations on cash movement above a stated limit as unconstitutional, drastic and violative of personal liberty and privacy of individuals even if it was...