-The Hindu     Governments have ritually abused the latitude granted by the Indian Penal Code and the Constitution to harass, intimidate and arrest scores of writers, journalists and artists It is common knowledge that Article 19 (1) (a) of the Indian Constitution lays down that "all citizens shall have the right to freedom of speech and expression"; it is also common knowledge that this fundamental right is not absolute, as the immediately following...

-The Telegraph Bhubaneswar: The state government will begin a search for more bauxite mines in the state from the first week of November. The move comes in the wake of the state's inability to provide bauxite from Niyamgiri hills to Vedanta's Lanjigarh alumina refinery in Kalahandi district. Director of the state geology department P.K. Ojha said: "There is a great demand for bauxite as Odisha is witnessing a rapid growth in industrialisation, particularly...

-The Times of India NEW DELHI: More than three years after the implementation of the RTE Act and an expenditure of over Rs 46,282.11 crore on school infrastructure, around 1.28 lakh out of 10,75,407 government elementary schools across the country still don't have toilets and over 61,000 lack drinking water facilities. According to the District Information System for Education 2011-12, Bihar has 18,169 schools without lavatories, the highest among states. Andhra Pradesh...

-Frontline The government pushes through the Land Acquisition Bill, but critics say it will take away more than what it purports to give. CLOSE on the heels of the passing of the National Food Security Bill, the Congress-led United Progressive Alliance government pushed through its other game-changer initiative, the Right to Fair Compensation and Transparency in Land Acquisition, Rehabilitation and Resettlement Bill, 2013, or LARR Bill, ostensibly to address the injustices...

-PTI Expressing surprise on the absence of latest official data on malnutrition, a Parliamentary panel has asked the government to come up with a time-bound action plan to reduce under-nutrition and ensure real time flow of information for proper monitoring. "We are surprised to note that in this modern era of information technology, there is no recent official data on malnutrition. What is available is seven years old and outdated...National Family Health...