-The Economic Times   The Central Vigilance Commissioner has reopened the debate on the mandate of the proposed Lokpal by suggesting that corporates should be brought under the purview of the proposed anti-corruption bill to check graft effectively. He also said that corruption in higher levels of bureaucracy, as also among political executives, should be dealt with by Lokpal, provided there was a proper demarcation of work to avoid overlapping of powers...

-The Hindu   Tension persists in Gopalgarh town of Rajasthan despite relaxation in curfew Amid the continuing tension in Gopalgarh town of Bharatpur district despite relaxation in curfew, the Rajasthan Government on Sunday categorically denied that the police had resorted to indiscriminate firing at the Jama Masjid or joined the violent crowd of Gujjars in lynching and burning alive the people praying in the mosque this past Wednesday. The denial issued through the State's...

As I write this my city Delhi is drowning. It started raining early this morning and within a few hours the city has come to a standstill. The television is showing scenes of traffic snarled up for hours, roads waterlogged and people and vehicles sunk deep in water and muck. The meteorological department records that some 60 mm of rain has fallen in just about 6 hours; 90 mm in 24...

-The Hindu   “Police should not have taken extreme step of firing” Latha Priyakumar, Member, National Commission for Scheduled Castes (NCSC), said that the lives of six Dalits could have been saved if police had handled the agitation in a proper manner. She was visiting Paramakudi and Ramanathapuram to enquire into the police firing at Paramakudi on Thursday. Describing the deaths as very unfortunate, she said the mishandling of the issue had claimed innocent lives. The...

Managing our soil and water resources in a sustainable and equitable manner needs a new political vision, which can be expressed through the proposed Land Acquisition Bill and the recently formed Global Soil Partnership. On the basis of a proposal I had made three years ago, the Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) launched a Global Soil Partnership for Food Security and Climate Change Adaptation and Mitigation at a multi-stakeholder conference, held...