In a shocking incident, a “pradhan” (village panchayat chief) and his supporters allegedly stuffed human excreta into the mouth of a Dalit youth in Uttar Pradesh’s Lalitpur district. According to a complaint registered with the police, the culprits, residents of Mailwara Khurd village in the district, also thrashed the youth and threatened him with dire consequences if he dared to approach the police. Police sources said that the youth had approached Chaliraja,...

A Union Home Ministry's proposal for amendments to the Armed Forces (Special Powers) Act is pending with the Cabinet Committee on Security (CCS), P. Chidambaram said on Saturday, a day after the United Nations Special Rapporteur asked India to repeal the law, arguing that it had no place in a democracy. Answering questions at his monthly press conference, he said his Ministry had sought three amendments. “These pertain to three sections…” He...

-The Times of India The home ministry has sought amendments in the controversial Armed Forced Special Powers Act (AFSPA) and the proposal is pending before the Cabinet Committee on Security with home minister P Chidambaram saying there should be three amendments to the insurgency law. "Three amendments should be made to the AFSPA. That is pending with the Cabinet Committee on Security,'' Chidambaram said. The minister was replying to questions about the United...

The Judiciary is the third branch of government. As with the Executive and Legislature, the public has a right to see and know and understand the functioning of this branch. That is why India, like every other democracy, has embraced the concept of open court proceedings and trials, except in those situations where, for security or other compelling reasons, in camera hearings are required. In the Mirajkar case ( Naresh Shridhar...

In the first example of his intention to take “difficult decisions” to contain the ballooning subsidy burden to control the fiscal deficit, Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee on Monday denied permission to food minister KV Thomas for about 26.5 million tonnes of additional food grain allocation to states at subsidised rates over the normal allocation that would have cost the exchequer Rs 32,794 crore of food subsidy.   “It will have to be...