-PTI Kolkata: The Election Commission in West Bengal today moved the Calcutta Hight Court seeking rejection of the government notification on poll schedule as the state government decided to contest it. The State Election Commission in its petition claimed that Section 42 of the West Bengal Panchayat Election Act, which states that the state government is empowered to notify election in consultation with the commission, is unconstitutional. The commission also prayed that it...

-Tehelka A public issue is not truly public unless Markandey Katju has passed judgement. Rahul Kotiyal and Ajachi Chakrabarti stand downwind "Journalists" writes Markandey Katju, with little sense of irony, "comment on everything under the sun." He goes on to say that when the shoe is on the other foot, when someone comments on journalism, it is misconstrued as an attack on press freedom. That when he announces he is appointing a...

-The Times of India BHOPAL: Flexing muscles for the first time, a group of dalits fired in air on Saturday to welcome the arrival of a statue of Dr Bhimrao Ambedkarthat will replace a bust installed at the busy traffic square in Damoh, a backward district in Bundelkhand region of Madhya Pradesh. The statue will be installed at the traffic square at a function on April 14, Ambedkar Jayanti, in the...

-Down to Earth They turn a blind eye to laws overriding tribal rights, complains national commission GOVERNORS of states with sizeable tribal population have come in for indictment over not performing their special administrative roles. To ensure partial autonomy in tribal areas, the Constitution entrusts governors with immense powers to supervise the administration and governance in such areas. They can allow or disallow any law or development programme in tribal areas to...

-PTI BETUL: The police have registered a report against 16 people for being part of a tribal panchayat which punished a girl recently for allegedly eloping, by cutting off her hair in public. The tribal panchayat at Chikhlar village situated about five kilometres away from Betul district headquarters also punished the girl's uncle for allegedly eloping with her, by making him run around with a garland of shoes and a grinding stone...