-The Hindu ‘Vision document mooted to designate them as ‘separate urban natural resources’ The Urban Development Ministry has constituted a working group to suggest ways to preserve water bodies. Rapid disappearance of water bodies from the urban landscape has sounded an alarm vis-à-vis water shortfall and has also put a considerable strain on States’ spending to meet the demand for water. A case in point is Bangalore. Despite having a Lake Development Authority that...

-The Hindu A top official in the Haryana government’s land registration department was transferred hours after he initiated a probe into all the land dealings of Robert Vadra, son-in-law of Congress president Sonia Gandhi, in four districts of the State neighbouring Delhi, The Hindu can disclose. The transfer order came on October 11, 2012 — even as the country was still digesting the allegations made by India Against Corruption of a nexus...

-The Indian Express A series of surrogate advertisements by the gutkha lobby against the ban on it in 14 states in quick succession is now threatening to erupt into a full-scale ad war. The Health Ministry is considering the option of issuing ads of its own to rebut the claims made by gutkha makers. Interestingly, the ministry does not appear to be keen on invoking the anti-tobacco law, which forbids advertising of...

-The Indian Express The Bangladesh High Commission has complained to the Indian government that two Bangladeshi citizens have been implicated in crimes committed in Delhi when they weren’t even in India. The two Bangladeshis, aged 22 and 60, have been held as undertrials in Tihar jail for nearly four and three years respectively. According to documents presented in two Delhi courts, both men arrived in India several months after their alleged crimes...

-DNA The police firing on dalits at Than town in Surendranagar district was the latest in a series of police atrocities committed on Scheduled Caste people in Gujarat. Most acts of police brutality towards dalits go unreported but even the five cases — including the Than incident — that were officially recorded in the last three months paint a sad picture of caste prejudice in the state. In one incident which took...