-The United Nations   India is receiving a loan of nearly $90 million from the United Nations to improve agricultural livelihoods in the small north-western state of Uttarakhand, one of the poorest areas in the country. The money, resulting from an agreement signed today between the Government and the UN International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD), will go towards the Integrated Livelihoods Support Project, which aims to support and develop the food production...

Bench says it runs counter to constitutional law and ultra vires Constitution The Supreme Court on Wednesday declared unconstitutional Section 27 (3) of the Arms Act, which provides for mandatory death sentence to an accused charged with an offence under this provision. Section 27(3) says: “Whoever uses any prohibited arms or prohibited ammunition or does any act in contravention of Section 7 and such use or act results in the death of...

-The Times of India In a major setback for the government, the Supreme Court on Thursday quashed all 122 spectrum licences granted during the tenure of former communications minister A Raja.  Trial court to decide on Chidambaram's role in 2G  The Supreme Court on Thursday said the trial court will decide on Janata Party chief Subramanian Swamy's plea to make home minister Chidambaram a co-accused in the 2G spectrum allotment case, IANS reported....

More than 80 per cent complaints filed under the seven-year-old domestic violence act have been declared too trivial for such a law to address, raising fears that it is being used to settle scores while graver atrocities go unreported. However, the nature of many complaints also suggests that women are no longer willing to play a subservient role in marital life. The highest number of complaints related to charges that the husband...

-The Telegraph     A non-government environmental agency claimed today that it has uncovered a scam in the solar power mission where, it said, a private firm has used front companies to circumvent government rules for solar power projects. The Centre for Science and Environment (CSE) said its three-month-long investigation suggested that the company had used unfair practices to grab lucrative projects under the first phase of the solar mission that hopes to add...