Indian citizens won’t be shielded from prying by government agencies if the Union home ministry gets its way with the proposed privacy law. The ministry is insisting that intelligence and law enforcement agencies be kept out of the purview of the proposed Act, and allowed to continue monitoring the activities and carry out electronic surveillance of citizens, officials familiar with the situation said. The department of personnel and training (DoPT), which is...

-The Hindu   Not a single person should die this winter from the freezing cold: Supreme Court Expressing concern over the lot of homeless persons during the winter, the Supreme Court on Monday directed Delhi and other States to ensure that adequate shelters were provided for night stay. The Bench observed that not a single person must be allowed to die from having to sleep on the pavement in the freezing cold. A Bench...

In possibly the first instance of its kind in the country, the Andhra Pradesh government has decided to compensate 70 victims of police violence following the May 2007 Mecca Masjid blast. The men had been falsely implicated in the case and tortured in custody. The 20 men who were the worst affected would get Rs 3 lakh each, the rest Rs 20,000 each. The announcement of the Rs 70 lakh compensation was...

Up to three-fourths of villagers and half of city dwellers will be entitled to subsidised food grains under a new bill, with the Centre refusing to budge on the volume of grain entitlement and continuing with upper limits for beneficiaries. The National Food Security Bill, redrafted on the basis of feedback from states and civil society groups, will soon be sent to the cabinet so that it can be introduced in...

-EPW   Will the blatant discrimination against Muslims in the administration of justice ever end? The word secular was inserted into the Preamble of the Indian Constitution by the 42nd amendment in 1976; later on, the Supreme Court, in S R Bommai vs Union of India, held (in 1994) that secularism was an integral part of the basic structure of the Constitution. And yet, it has been a long time coming – Indian...