-Bar and Bench   The National Human Rights Commission (NHRC) currently holding a status of participant (A status) is likely to be downgraded to the position of an observer (B status) when its accreditation renewal comes up for consideration before the United Nations (UN). There are various reasons for this, including the corruption charges raised against Chairman, K.G. Balakrishnan, former Chief Justice of India. Other reasons that are expected to go against...

Congress General Secretary Rahul Gandhi, who declared his solidarity with the villagers of western Uttar Pradesh, who are protesting at the manner in which the State government has been acquiring their land, took a delegation of farmers to meet Prime Minister Manmohan Singh on Monday, taking his battle against Mayawati one step further. Apprising the Prime Minister of the situation in the villages of Greater Noida, where farmers have been agitating,...

Elected five months ago, panchayat members of the state can finally look forward to carrying out development work in their respective areas with the state cabinet approving two sets of rules to guide the rural bodies. Approved last week and set to be notified in the gazette in the next couple of days, the Jharkhand panchayat (mukhiya, upmukhiya, pramukh, uppramukh, zilla parishad chairman, vice-chairman ke shaktiya evam kritya) niyamavali, 2011, and...

Even as Narmada Bachao Andolan leader Medha Patkar on Thursday demanded repeal of the Land Acquisition Act, 1984, the All-India Kisan Sabha urged Prime Minister Manmohan Singh to call a special session of Parliament to discuss the issue. Ms. Patkar, who was arrested at Parsaul village on Thursday and later released, said that instead of an amended Act, there should be a comprehensive Development Planning Act under which development should only...

The arrival of large quantities of wheat in the grain markets of the Punjab-Haryana region is a heart-warming sight, while poor storage is a matter of national shame. It was in April-May 1968, that the country witnessed the wonderful spectacle of large arrivals of wheat grain in the mandis of Punjab like Moga and Khanna. Wheat production in the country rose to nearly 17 million tonnes that year, from the previous...