-The Hindu   The inordinate delay on the part of the Congress-led UPA government in enacting laws to prevent sexual assault on women is taking a heavy toll and exposing them to various forms of violence, Communist Party of India (Marxist) Polit Bureau member and MP Brinda Karat said. Ms. Karat was here to participate in the 12th State conference of the All-India Democratic Women's Association (AIDWA) which concluded on Wednesday. Later,...

-PTI   Several political parties on Tuesday pledged their support to journalists and non-journalists who staged a day-long dharna across the country to protest against the “delay” in notification of the Wage Boards for them and promised to raise the issue in Parliament. Senior leaders of the BJP, the CPI(M), the CPI and the JD(U) alleged that the government was “dithering” on the issue as “it wants to serve the interests of...

The co-chairperson of the Joint Drafting Committee on the Lokpal Bill, Shanti Bhushan, has urged Union Finance Minister and chairman of the Lokpal panel Pranab Mukherjee to treat the two drafts as the outcome of the joint committee and not to treat the Team Anna draft as a “dissent note.” In a letter to Mr. Mukherjee, Mr. Bhushan took exception to Union Law Minister Veerappa Moily's statement calling the government draft...

-IANS   Under attack from civil society activists, the media and some of his own party members, over perceived communication gap over critical issues, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh has decided on a media outreach plan that kicks off with a meeting with some senior editors Wednesday. The prime minister will meet a group of editors of regional and national dailies Wednesday, government sources said. Manmohan Singh has so far held only three nationally...

The episodes of violence in land acquisition by the government, as witnessed recently in Bhatta-Parsaul in Uttar Pradesh and in other states earlier, occur because patterns of violence are inbuilt into the process. Despite a bill pending in Parliament since 2007, there has been little effort by political parties to evolve a consensus on acquisition of agricultural land for non-agricultural purposes. The law as at present and also the provisions...