-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...

-Reuters India has launched a wide-ranging surveillance programme that will give its security agencies and even income tax officials the ability to tap directly into e-mails and phone calls without oversight by courts or parliament, several sources said. The expanded surveillance in the world's most populous democracy, which the government says will help safeguard national security, has alarmed privacy advocates at a time when allegations of massive US digital snooping beyond American...

-Firstpost.com After the UPA-II released its self-congratulatory 79-page ‘Report card to the People', National Advisory Council (NAC) member and leading social activist Aruna Roy has come down heavily on the government for its poor performance in the social sector. Roy, an instrumental force behind the Right to Information Act, criticised the government for stalling on essential legislations such as the Food Security Bill, the Land Acquisition Bill and the Lokpal Bill. Roy spoke...

-The Telegraph Hyderabad: Thousands of Bastar tribals have fled to neighbouring Andhra Pradesh since Sunday to escape the security forces' combing of areas around the Sukma-Jagdalpur road following Saturday's ambush. Although exact figures are not available yet, Andhra district officials say some 10,000 to 15,000 people - mostly tribals but including some middle-class traders - have entered the Khammam and Warangal districts through Bhadrachalam, Chintoor and Venkatapuram. "This is the worst time for...

-The Hindu   In making a case for the investigative agency's autonomy, the Supreme Court is only stepping in where the executive has failed The proceedings in the Coalgate case earlier this week saw the Supreme Court asking the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) many uncomfortable questions. The Court also asked the government to tell it what steps it was going to take to enact a law to ensure the CBI's autonomy. The...