-The Hindu Admits lawyer’s letter seeking court-monitored probe as PIL petition Amid mounting pressure on the Uttar Pradesh police to solve the Unnao gang-rape case and custodial death of the minor victim’s father, the Allahabad High Court on Wednesday took suo motu cognisance of the matter. Acting on a request by senior advocate Gopal S. Chaturvedi for a court-monitored probe, the HC admitted his letter as a Public Interest Litigation plea. The matter...

-The Telegraph New Delhi: A Right to Information applicant has drawn a blank while trying to access studies carried out on black money by autonomous research institutions under the finance ministry, making him wonder whether these documents have been sucked into some black hole. Even the much-touted special investigation team on black money - set up by the Narendra Modi government soon after assuming office - has informed Venkatesh Nayak of the...

-The Times of India NAGPUR (Maharashtra): Even as the issue of pesticide inhalation deaths dog Maharashtra government, Punjab has come up with a ban on monocrotophos as well as 19 other pesticides. As a state can impose ban on a pesticide for not more than 60 days, in Punjab orders to stop issuing fresh licences as well as renewal have been issued. Accidental inhalation of pesticides led to 52 deaths in Vidarbha...

-Livemint.com SIT probe report on deaths of 40 farmers in Vidarbha during July-September will be made public during Maharashtra assembly’s winter session starting on 11 December Mumbai: The report of a Special Investigation Team (SIT) appointed by the Maharashtra government to investigate the deaths of cotton farmers and farm workers in Vidarbha during July-September will be made public only during the upcoming wintersession of the state legislature beginning 11 December in Nagpur,...

-Down to Earth Death of cotton farmers due to pesticide poisoning in the Vidarbha region raises vital questions about the government's attitude towards regulation of toxic pesticides One more evil has reared its ugly head in Maharashtra’s arid Vidarbha region, which has so far been infamous for farmer suicides. Some 35 farmers in the region have died of pesticide poisoning in last four months. Most of them were working in cotton and...