-The Telegraph A government panel has recommended mandatory registration of all lease agreements and power of attorney documents to ensure revenue augmentation. At present, only lease agreements for a year and more need to be compulsorily registered. Registration of power of attorney documents is optional. If the proposal is accepted, it will mean that some of the ubiquitous 11-month rent agreements will lose their sheen. Some landlords prefer the 11-month tenure as registration...

-The Business Standard The right to speak freely implies no corresponding obligation for someone else to give you a platform to exercise that freedom The circumstances of Mr Modi's invitation by a students' association at the University of Pennsylvania's business school, and subsequent un-ceremonious un-invitation following protests, are well known. What is less clear is the correct interpretation of what happened. Mr Modi's supporters, and even some who don't support him, have cried...

-The Hindu Administration argues pulling down their huts will ensure ‘safety of wildlife’ KAWARDAH (CHHATTISGARH): A day after the Union government announced a Rs.100-crore grant for Chukutiya Bhunjia of Orissa, a primitive tribe which lives on the eastern border of Chhattisgarh, 30 huts of the Baigas, another primitive tribe, were razed to the ground by government officials in the western part of the State. The incident took place on February 18, adjacent to...

-The Hindu Demand institution of murder charge against the Mumbai ACP Vasant Dhoble The street vendors of Delhi launched a nation-wide campaign against “police terror” on Sunday, demanding that the police be made accountable to the public. Under the umbrella of the National Association of Street Vendors of India (NASVI), they formed a human chain at Parliament Street to demand institution of murder charge against the Mumbai Assistant Commissioner of Police (ACP) Vasant...

-Farmlandgrab.org Oxfam’s Phil Bloomer reports on the shocking scandal of (mostly) secretive land-grabbing, usually from those least able to defend their rights Land grabbing has fast become a major threat to poor communities in Africa, Asia and South America. Poverty-stricken women and men are being driven from their homes and the land they rely on to grow food to eat and make a living, usually without compensation. In many cases this is...