The army is bristling at a fresh move in the government to dilute or revoke the Armed Forces Special Powers Act. The AFSPA gives the army extraordinary powers in Jammu and Kashmir and the Northeast to enforce law and order in aid of the civilian authority. The army is particularly concerned about proposals floated from the Union home ministry to make it mandatory for soldiers to seek permission from a civilian authority...

-The Telegraph Governor M.K. Narayanan today said he was given “legal advice” that the Singur bill did not require presidential assent — an observation the government has seized upon in its search for a scapegoat. Absence of presidential assent was one of the key reasons cited by a Calcutta High Court division bench last week to strike down the Singur law. The state government today spoke of looking at “other alternatives” alongside...

The State finds a handy tool in a colonial law to quell dissent Wrong Arm Of The Law   Why ‘sedition’ rings hollow in India 2012 The law Section 124(A) of the Indian Penal Code, 1870; non-bailable offence The definition Whoever by words, either spoken or written, or by signs, or by visible representation, or otherwise, brings or attempts to bring into hatred or contempt, or excites or attempts to excite disaffection towards the government...

-The United Nations The world's forests have a major role to play in the transition to a greener economy, but governments need to do more to ensure they are sustainably managed, according to a new report from the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), issued today. “Forests and trees on farms are a direct source of food, energy, and cash income for more than a billion of the world's poorest people,”...

-FAO The world's forests have a major role to play in the transition to a new, greener economy, a theme being discussed at the Rio+20 Conference.  But to spark that shift, governments must enact programs and policies aimed at both unlocking the potential of forests and ensuring that they are sustainably managed, FAO said today. In a new report, The State of the World's Forests 2012 (SOFO 2012), the UN Food and...