-The Hindu   Making it clear that it will not go into the policy mechanism of deregulation, the Supreme Court on Friday declined to entertain a public interest writ petition questioning the repeated hike in the price of petroleum products. Chief Justice S.H. Kapadia told counsel Upamanyu Hazarika, appearing for the All-India Youth Federation, “We cannot decide on pricing. It is a policy and legislative matter. We will not interfere in it. The...

-The Telegraph   The CBI today began probing an Uttar Pradesh health scam running into thousands of crores that has led to the murders of two honest government doctors and the sacking of two ministers. The issue relates to the spending of Rs 10,000 crore allocated to the state under the National Rural Health Mission. CBI spokesperson Dharini Mishra said the agency had registered five preliminary inquiries on the orders of Allahabad High Court,...

-The Hindu   “Church premises used for stir against Kudankulam plant” As some of the churches are being used to disseminate anti-Kudankulam Nuclear Power Project (KKNPP) messages urging the people to join the ongoing protest against the nuclear power project, the police here have started registering cases against priests who either allow or indulge in such activities. After the St. Lourdes Church premises at Idinthakarai was converted into anti-KKNPP protest venue, a number of...

-The Indian Express   Bihar is ready with the draft for a new Lokayukta Bill, which it plans to finalise by November 26 before getting it passed in the winter session of the Assembly. It is the second state, after Uttarakhand, to have prepared or reworked its Lokayukta laws before the Centre haspassed a Lokpal Bill. Unlike the Bihar Lokayukta Act, 1973, the new law will bring the chief minister under the Lokayukta’s...

The new Chairman of the Press Council of India, Markandey Katju, wants to make it an instrument of mediation in addition to adjudication.   THE appointment of Justice Markandey Katju, a former judge of the Supreme Court, as Chairman of the Press Council of India is about the best thing that has happened to that body in a long while. It is no exaggeration to say that the PCI commands little prestige...