-Live Mint Government reaches near consensus as BJP agrees to support Bill in Parliament; industry not enthused by plan The government may be close to pulling off one of India's most significant policy changes with a near consensus among political parties on a new land acquisition law, taking the country to the verge of removing what's perceived as the biggest impediment to the next wave of industrialization. At the conclusion of an all-party...

-Outlook Geneva: For the first time, a UN Special Rapporteur on violence against women will visit India next week to assess the overall situation of violence against women at a time when questions are being raised on the safety and security of women there. Rashida Manjoo, the Special Rapporteur, charged by the Human Rights Council to monitor violence against women, its causes and consequences worldwide, will meet with government authorities and...

-The Times of India Several Laws have been enacted and commissions set up for the protection of scheduled castes and tribes. Yet violence and discrimination against underprivileged communities go on with impunity. The latest in the long list of such incidents took place in Haryana, where over 200 dalit families were forced to migrate from Pabnawa village following attacks on them by upper caste Ror community members. The reason for...

-The Hindu   The Supreme Court's reasoning in the Devinder Pal Singh Bhullar case reveals an unfortunate determination to sanction judicial execution because it involved a terrorist offence. If there is one principle that emerges from the judgment of Justice G.S. Singhvi and Justice S.J. Mukhopadhaya, it is that prolonged delay in disposal of a mercy petition, until now considered a possible constitutional limitation on carrying out an execution, will not be...

KEY TRENDS   • According to National Sample Survey report no. 583: Persons with Disabilities in India, the percentage of persons with disability who received aid/help from Government was 21.8 percent, 1.8 percent received aid/help from organisation other than Government and another 76.4 percent did not receive aid/ help *8   • As per National Family Health Survey-4 (NFHS-4), the Under-five Mortality Rate (U5MR) was 57.2 per 1,000 live births (for the non-STs it was 38.5)...