-Down to Earth Rice cultivation has led to waterlogging and soil salinity in Haryana’s Jhajjar district CASTE-BASED khap panchayats of Haryana are usually in the news for passing regressive and, often, controversial orders in the name of honouring social customs. But this year in January, the Jhakkar khap panchayat of Jhajjar district gave a rather unusual order in the larger interest of the farming community. It ordered that all the 36...

-Outlook Mumbai: The CBI, probing January 2010 murder of RTI activist Satish Shetty, today conducted searches at the offices of IRB Infrastructure Developers Limited, a company which was recently in news over its links with BJP chief Nitin Gadkari. "Searches are being conducted at four premises of IRB in Pune," a senior CBI official said on condition of anonymity without disclosing details. A year before he was killed, Shetty had lodged a complaint...

-Frontline There is growing violence against women and children in Haryana, aided by the apparent collusion between the State government and the upper-caste-dominated khap panchayats. THE road leading to Dabra village in Haryana’s Hisar district is not very difficult to locate. It was at Dabra, a mere 15 kilometres from the district headquarters, that a heinous crime was committed on September 9. It would have gone unnoticed had it not been accompanied...

-The Indian Express MHA’s decision to replicate the Chhattisgarh model in all Maoist-affected states is timely Taking a cue from the Chhattisgarh police’s efforts to socially rehabilitate Maoists cadres who have surrendered, the ministry of home affairs (MHA) has issued an advisory saying that all Naxal-affected states should facilitate reverse vasectomy operations for Maoists who wish to join the mainstream. The states should bear the medical costs for the operation, which will...

-Outlook Delhi Police fared the worst when it came to complaints against the men in khaki for alleged irregularities last year, while their Uttar Pradesh counterparts came a close second. Out of 61,765 complaints filed against cops across India, 22 per cent (12,805 cases) were registered in Delhi, a report prepared by the National Crime Records Bureau said. Uttar Pradesh came second with 19.4 per cent (11,971 cases) complaints registered, while Madhya Pradesh...