-The Hindustan Times With security forces under pressure to ensure that civilians do not get caught in cross-fire in the Red Corridor, Maoists have started deploying members of the Jan Militia in plains clothes as human shields during Attacks on the forces. Home Ministry officials said forces fighting naxals were being advised to account for this strategy in its operations. The naxal change in strategy comes after the June 28 encounter between...

-The Hindu Terming broadcasters’ attempts at self-regulation “futile and meaningless,” the Press Council of India (PCI) has asked the government to amend law and bring the electronic media — both broadcast and social — under the ambit of an expanded and renamed Media Council. PCI chairman Markandey Katju has been urging the inclusion of the electronic media under the Council’s regulatory umbrella ever since he took charge last year. However, the recent...

-The Hindu Activists of several rights groups held a protest here on Tuesday calling for mining group Vedanta Resources, an FTSE 100 company, to be struck off from the London Stock Exchange because of its controversial trade practices and human rights record. Carrying banners and raising slogans against its policies, the protesters gathered outside the venue of the company’s annual general meeting in central London and booed its shareholders as they arrived. Senior...

-The Hindu "Charges of impropriety are unsupported by facts" Prime Minister Manmohan Singh on Monday Attacked the Comptroller and Auditor-General’s report on the coal blocks allocation during 2004-09, saying any allegation of impropriety was without basis and unsupported by facts. As Parliament has been paralysed during the past week with an unrelenting and combative Bharatiya Janata Party disrupting proceedings in both Houses and demanding his resignation, Dr. Singh chose to make a statement...

-The Hindu The parliamentary stalemate continues on one of the greatest corruption scandals in Indian history. Allocation of natural resources has been a subject matter of public debate in the last two decades, particularly with the entry of the private sector in infrastructure development. Minerals are an important natural resource. The private sector has a great role to play in development of mineral-based industries. However, the policy of allocation of these...