The government’s recent actions in notifying the Intermediary Guidelines for the internet with minimal public debate have resulted in the creation of a legal system that raises as many problems as it solves. The regulations as presently notified are arguably unconstitutional, arbitrary and vague and could pose a serious problem to the business of various intermediaries in the country (not to mention hampering internet penetration in the country) and also...

The peasants’ organisations of the four Left parties in West Bengal have called the Mamata Banerjee government “insensitive” to the plight of farmers and have decided to mobilise them to launch a campaign. The state government is already under fire from the farmers’ community for failing to procure paddy at the minimum support price (MSP) and provide jobs under the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme (MNREGS). The CPM’s peasants’...

Factory official killed after death of union leader in police action In a major outbreak of industrial violence following the death of a TRADE UNION leader, a top official of a ceramic company in Yanam, a small enclave of Puducherry in Andhra Pradesh, was killed by workers at his residence here on Friday. The workers went on the rampage after their leader M.S. Murali Mohan was killed in police action outside the...

The Congress-led United Progressive Alliance (UPA) on Friday signalled its intent to deregulate the sugar industry, a move that could potentially stoke a political backlash, especially at a time when states like Uttar Pradesh, Punjab and Uttarakhand—all sugarcane-growing regions—are in the middle of an election campaign. The opposition claimed that not only was it anti-farmer, it also violated the electoral code of conduct prevalent in five states, while sugar stocks of...

-Hueiyen News Service   There can be no development in Manipuri society as long as the people merely lament over deprivation of BPL rice, kerosene, NREGS wages, etc and expect to get some benefits from the government, Prof Chongtham Priyoranjan of Department of Economics, Manipur University has stated. He was speaking as Chief Guest at the launch of a project of Manipuri Chanura Marup (Macha Leima) to empower women in using RTI Act,...