-The Telegraph Many Indians stand in solidarity with the protest launched by the academic community in the University of Pennsylvania against the decision to invite Narendra Modi, writes Prasenjit Bose S L. Rao's criticisms of the academics of the University of Pennsylvania, who had initiated a campaign against Wharton Business School's invitation to Narendra Modi, in his article, "The trip that never was" (March 18), are not only unwarranted but they also...

-The Indian Express Kolkata: West Bengal's notification for the panchayat elections marks a flash point in an ongoing tussle between the Mamata Banerjee government and the state election commission. The government notification, issued last week independently of the election authorities, has declared polls in two phases, on April 26 and 30. The election commission, headed by Meera Pandey, has been insisting on three phases. On Monday, the commission wrote to the government...

-The Indian Express Special courts for those falsely held in terror cases would acknowledge the problem, not solve it The Union home ministry has come out in support of demands for the setting up of special courts for speedy disposal of cases of those believed to be falsely accused of involvement in terror cases. As reported in this newspaper on Sunday, Minister Sushilkumar Shinde has also indicated that action would be initiated...

-The Hindu The Sunday Story India's police forces are generally hostile and corrupt. They are also often brutal, as the recent beating of unarmed people in Tarn Tarn and Patna demonstrated. The Indian Police Act of 1861, a colonial relic, needs to be replaced with a law that befits a free country. The former Border Security Force (BSF) Director-General, Prakash Singh, refers to his favourite game of ping pong whenever he has...

-PTI Hyderabad: Country's only listed micro lender SKS Microfinance today said it plans to resume lending operations in Andhra Pradesh soon, two years after the state government came out with a stringent laws to regulate the industry. SKS Chief Financial Officer, Dill Raj said the recent Supreme Court's interim order was of great relief to them and paves way to resume operations in the state. "That is primary relief we got (from the...