-The Telegraph The Editors’ Guild today opposed any move to empower courts to temporarily clamp down on reporting to protect the interests of parties in an ongoing case, saying it would amount to “pre-censorship” of news. Arguing for the guild, senior counsel Rajeev Dhavan opposed suggestions for a temporary gag on covering court cases — specially criminal cases and high-stakes corporate matters — if the courts felt it was adversely affecting the...

Sitting and aspiring MCD councillors of Trilokpuri area got a lesson in RTEon Wednesday. At a public meeting organized by JOSH, locals flocked to meet them with lots of suggestions and many complaints about the lack of educational facilities in their east Delhi colony. All that the candidates could muster as a response was a slew of promises most of which were shrouded in ignorance about the provisions of the...

A directive by the West Bengal Government to State libraries and those sponsored by it to subscribe only to newspapers specified by it has raised the hackles of the Left parties as well as certain civic rights activists. A circular issued by a Special Secretary of the Government directs the libraries to purchase only eight newspapers as specified by it. It provides the names of five Bengali newspapers, two Urdu and...

-The Times of India The Supreme Court on Tuesday was at a loss to understand why convict Dhananjoy Chatterjee's execution was swift, but a lot of political muscle flexing was on show when it came to Beant Singh's killer Balwant Singh Rajoana, who is slated to be hanged on March 31. The controversy over Rajoana's death sentence reached the apex court on Tuesday with a NGO Lawyers for Human Rights International seeking...

-The Telegraph The Mamata Banerjee government today curtailed the financial powers of three CPM-run zilla parishads where funds disbursals have come to a standstill because of an alleged tussle to claim credit. The district magistrates of North 24-Parganas, Nadia and Murshidabad have been empowered to disburse funds. The Left had been reduced to a minority in the standing committees of the three zilla parishads after it lost power last May. State panchayat minister...