-Down to Earth Rice cultivation has led to waterlogging and soil salinity in Haryana’s Jhajjar district CASTE-BASED khap panchayats of Haryana are usually in the news for passing regressive and, often, controversial orders in the name of honouring social customs. But this year in January, the Jhakkar khap panchayat of Jhajjar district gave a rather unusual order in the larger interest of the farming community. It ordered that all the 36...

-The Times of India Within hours of raising cooking gas prices, the government late on Thursday asked oil marketing companies to put on hold the Rs 26.50 hike, calling into question the seriousness of the deregulation plan and casting a doubt over the UPA's commitment to fiscal reforms. The U-turn came after a volley of protests by the opposition and days before Himachal Pradesh goes to polls, with Gujarat elections to follow....

-Reuters Shares in Reliance Industries Ltd recover after falling as much as 2.1 percent on Thursday, a day after anti-corruption activist Arvind Kejriwal accused the energy conglomerate of hoarding natural gas and exerting pressure on the government to favour it. The company denies the allegations. Kejriwal, whose group India Against Corruption (IAC) has won publicity in India by accusing ruling Congress party chief Sonia Gandhi's son in law Robert Vadra of taking part...

-Outlook Mumbai: The CBI, probing January 2010 murder of RTI activist Satish Shetty, today conducted searches at the offices of IRB Infrastructure Developers Limited, a company which was recently in news over its links with BJP chief Nitin Gadkari. "Searches are being conducted at four premises of IRB in Pune," a senior CBI official said on condition of anonymity without disclosing details. A year before he was killed, Shetty had lodged a complaint...

-The Hindu Sequence of attacks on “well-known business units” suggests violence was not spontaneous Last week’s violence in Faizabad district during the Durga Puja procession which left two persons dead, several injured and dozens of shops razed, was executed in a planned manner and the targets had been selected, according to a fact-finding team and accounts by victims and eyewitnesses. The fact-finding team of human rights organisation Rihai Manch said the sequence of...