-Outlook The Supreme Court today granted two more months to the Income Tax department to transcribe the entire intercepted telephone conversations of corporate lobbyist Niira Radia. A Bench of justices G S Singhvi and S J Mukhopadhaya said that the department must place the transcript of entire 5,800 conversations, running into more than hundred hours, on January 8. "Complete the exercise in two months. Not possible to give you more time," the bench...

-The Tribune India is governed by a written Constitution and any policy decision, programme by the Central or state government must be within the constitutional parameter of the Constitution. The State under our Constitution is mandated to protect the human rights. Any government policy, which seeks to shift this responsibility from the state to the private sector, would be, without anything more, unconstitutional and hence impermissible. The United Nations, since its inception, has...

Environmentalists, civil society groups and scientists working with marginal farmers have welcomed recommendation of the Supreme Court appointed Technical Expert Committee (TEC) placing a 10-year moratorium on field trials of GM crops in India. The TEC freeze advice includes field trials of Bt transgenics in all food crops which are used directly for human consumption. (See links below for the actual report and more details) The TEC, which was appointed in...

-The Telegraph Nisha Kumari, a Class VIII student in Uttar Pradesh, has taken her school to court because it charges fees her father cannot afford. The Dalit girl from Hathras district today petitioned Allahabad High Court to direct the government-run Girls’ Inter College in Sasni to stop charging her — or any other student — any fee till they reach Class IX. Else, Nisha’s petition said, she may have to drop out of...

-PTI Mahatma Gandhi cannot be accorded the 'Father of the Nation' title by government as the Constitution does not permit any titles except educational and military ones, the home ministry has said. In an RTI response to Lucknow-based student Aishwarya Parashar, the home ministry has told her that no action was taken on her plea to the President to declare Mahatma Gandhi as 'Father of the Nation' because Article 18 (1) of...