-The Indian Express While the BJP disrupted the functioning of Parliament for the second consecutive day on Wednesday demanding Prime Minister Manmohan Singh’s resignation for alleged failure to go for auctioning of coal blocks, at least four states that were ruled by the Opposition at the time had raised the red flag when the Centre proposed the competitive bidding route in 2005. The Centre had cited the lack of “transparency and objectivity”...

-Pratirodh.com NAPM on Tuesday started a three-day demonstration at Jantar Mantar in Delhi to protest against the draft Land Acquisition Bill and demanded revision of the draft to incorporate changes suggested by a Parliamentary panel and civil society.   NAPM has organised the dharna in association with several other land rights and anti-displacement movements — like the National Forum of Forest people,Mazdoor Kisan Shakti Sangathan  and Forest workers — under the banner of...

-The Hindu 13 men face death penalty even though the Supreme Court says they were erroneously sentenced Over six weeks after a Maharashtra court ruled that Ankush Maruti Shinde was wrongly sentenced to death, as he was a juvenile when the crime was committed, he is still stuck in the death row ward of a Nagpur jail. In fact, the Supreme Court itself had ruled that the judgment was rendered per incuriam...

-The Hindu The Bharatiya Janata Party and other opposition parties are crying foul over Prime Minister Manmohan Singh’s alleged involvement in the coal blocks allocation scam but the BJP-led Chhattisgarh and Rajasthan governments themselves were among the strong opponents to a transparent process of competitive bidding, and pitched for continuing the policy of allocation of coal blocks. Documents with The Hindu show that the BJP governments were against putting in place an...

-The Hindu In the wake of references being made to investigate the health issues of mine workers, the Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR) proposes to establish a statutory authority. Cancer, tuberculosis, silicosis, diabetes, musculoskeletal disorders and pulmonary function impairment such as asthma affect mine workers. The proposed authority will coordinate with the Ministries and authorities concerned for taking administrative, legal and medical action. The ICMR has approached the State governments for developing a...