-Reuters India has launched a wide-ranging surveillance programme that will give its security agencies and even income tax officials the ability to tap directly into e-mails and phone calls without oversight by courts or parliament, several sources said. The expanded surveillance in the world's most populous democracy, which the government says will help safeguard national security, has alarmed privacy advocates at a time when allegations of massive US digital snooping beyond American...

-The Hindu National Cyber Coordination Centre will give law enforcement agencies access to all Internet accounts Indians using the Internet might be worried over the U.S. spy agencies snooping into their accounts and online data, but the government has set the ball rolling for creating its own multi-agency body - National Cyber Coordination Centre (NCCC) - that would carry out "real-time assessment of cyber security threats" and "generate actionable reports/alerts for proactive...

-The Hindu     Angry residents had initially refused to perform the last rites of the Mumbai acid attack victim Angry and distraught residents of Narela spilled onto the streets and refused to perform the last rites of local girl Preeti Rathi, whose body was flown back to the Capital early on Monday morning from Mumbai. Preeti had succumbed to acid attack injuries this past Sunday. However, following a day-long outrage over the incident, the...

-The Times of India   NEW DELHI: Former chief election commissioner N Gopalaswamy and ex-Admirals R H Tahiliani and L Ramdas along with six other eminent persons on Monday petitioned the Supreme Court challenging appointment of former defence secretary Sashi Kant Sharma as the Comptroller and Auditor General (CAG). This is the second PIL within a fortnight, and follows one filed by advocate M L Sharma, who, too, had challenged the discretion vested...

-Firstpost.com After the UPA-II released its self-congratulatory 79-page ‘Report card to the People', National Advisory Council (NAC) member and leading social activist Aruna Roy has come down heavily on the government for its poor performance in the social sector. Roy, an instrumental force behind the Right to Information Act, criticised the government for stalling on essential legislations such as the Food Security Bill, the Land Acquisition Bill and the Lokpal Bill. Roy spoke...