-The Indian Express   An RTI activist was attacked by a mob of about 150 men who forcibly entered her office in Jama Masjid area, Central Delhi, on Saturday around 4.30 pm. A case of criminal trespass and mischief has been registered at the Jama Masjid police station; no arrests have been made so far. Police said the victim, Sheeba Fehmi, and her husband, Arshad Ali Fehmi, have been fighting against encroachments in...

-The Times of India   After taking lead in helping the country draw up the Rigth to Information Act and the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (MGNREGA), Rajasthan has become the first state in the country to have drafted a policy underlining the importance and the need to preserve and secure common land (commons) in rural areas. The government has issued a series of orders to facilitate the process and aims...

Floods are vital to Kaziranga; dams on the upper reaches of the Brahmaputra could disrupt the balance A few weeks ago, much of the grasslands of Kaziranga National Park were under water. The monsoon floods bring with them their own set of problems—some of the animals, for instance, have to be rehabilitated—but they are required for the very existence of the park. The annual floods of the Brahmaputra creates grasslands, floodplains, and...

Karnataka: The report of the Task Force on encroachment of government land is likely to suffer a silent death. IT was clear to V. Balasubramanian, the Chairman of the Task Force for Recovery of Public Land and its Protection, when he submitted his report on encroachment of government land that it would ruffle quite a few feathers in the political and bureaucratic echelons of Karnataka. What he was unprepared for...

After sliding a mile backward into a morass, Karnataka'smining sector has just been shoved a metre forward. Since it has taken an almighty effort by the judiciary and a quasi-judicial body, the Lokayukta, to accomplish even this much, what hope is there for a sector that is vital for Karnataka's and India'sindustrial development?? Will the sector - represented by mining firms, traders, transporters, government agencies - slide back deep into...