-BBC Dalits are at the bottom of the Hindu caste system and despite laws to protect them, they still face widespread discrimination in India, writes Natalia Antelava. As the glass flew across the room and straight into the wall, a dozen or so men stopped drinking their tea. Dr Vinod Sonkar threw money on the counter - enough for the tea he drank and the glass he had smashed - and walked out. Dr...

-The Times of India Rashtrapati Bhawan has defended granting clemency to an unprecedented 35 death row convicts saying the power to pardon was not a private act of grace but a Constitutional obligation.  A statement from the President's office said President Pratibha Patil had not acted in haste or played to the gallery and the clemency petitions had been commuted only after due examination and on the aid and advice of the...

-PTI The government today told the Supreme Court that “auction cannot be the only permissible method for disposal of natural resources” and a uniform policy on their distribution was “neither practical nor can it subserve the common good”. The Centre also said the allocation of natural resources was a policy matter and beyond the purview of judicial review. The submissions came in response to questions by the apex court on the Presidential Reference...

Tata Motors welcomes verdict; Mamata says people’s choice will prevail In a setback to the Mamata Banerjee-led Trinamool Congress government in West Bengal, a division bench of the Calcutta High Court struck down the “Singur Land Rehabilitation and Development Act of 2011”, terming it unConstitutional and void. The law was enacted in 2011 to vest farm land acquired by the previous government for Tata Motors’ Nano small car factory in Singur...

The State finds a handy tool in a colonial law to quell dissent Wrong Arm Of The Law   Why ‘sedition’ rings hollow in India 2012 The law Section 124(A) of the Indian Penal Code, 1870; non-bailable offence The definition Whoever by words, either spoken or written, or by signs, or by visible representation, or otherwise, brings or attempts to bring into hatred or contempt, or excites or attempts to excite disaffection towards the government...