Press Council of India (PCI) chairman Markandey Katju on Tuesday hit out against Anna Hazare and questioned the methods adopted by the anti-corruption crusader for finding a solution to the problems facing the country. “Anna Hazare lacks scientific thinking towards the problems before the country; solution to these cannot be found by merely shouting Inquilab Zindabad andBharat Mata ki Jai ,” Justice Katju said. Dubbing the proposed Lokpal an “unworkable proposal”, he...

“We are interested in prevention rather than initiating contempt proceedings”   The Supreme Court on Tuesday indicated that it would lay down guidelines for the media on court reporting with a view to striking a balance between protecting press freedom and protecting the right to life. A five-judge Constitution Bench of Chief Justice S.H. Kapadia and Justices D.K. Jain, S.S. Nijjar, Ranjana Desai and J.S. Khehar said: “We have to balance Article 21(right...

The Supreme Court has handed down an extraordinary decision with some extraordinary arguments directing the central government to execute the “river interlinking project”. How could the Court which says “it can hardly take unto itself tasks of making of a policy decision or planning for the country on the need for acquisition and construction of river linking channels” then go on to actually take the very same policy decision and...

-The Times of India Responding to a PIL filed by a retired Intelligence Bureau (IB) officer pointing at the complete absence of constitutional or statutory sanction for the agency, the Karnataka high court last week sought an explanation from the Centre, giving it time until March 30 to issue an executive order justifying IB's existence. The IB was formed on December 23, 1887, by the then British secretary of state as a...

One man’s fiscal problem is another man’s lifeline. Trigger happy bureaucrats and economists may love shooting down subsidies because it bloats the fiscal deficit and burdens the government but the simple fact is that in a one billion strong nation, in which nearly one in every three live below the poverty line, one needs an effective and efficient method through which privileged tax payers can support the poor. Last week, finance...