-The Economic Times   The Congress-led government has tried to reach out to Other Backward Communities (OBCs) by drastically relaxing the definition of 'creamy layer' and including those with an annual income of Rs 12 lakh in metros eligible for job reservations. The eligibility level in non-metros will be an annual income of Rs 9 lakh.  The existing ceiling for this is an annual income of 4.5 lakh. The National Commission for Backward...

‘There is no such thing as self-regulation, every institution is accountable to the people.' We publish here an edited excerpt from a clarification issued by Press Council chairman Markandey Katju. The full text of his clarification can be read at www.thehindu.com. ‘No doubt, the media should provide some entertainment also to the people. But if 90 per cent of their coverage is devoted to entertainment, and only 10 per cent...

Father Cedric Prakash is a human rights and peace activist based in Ahmedabad. He has campaigned for the justice of the victims of the 2002 communal violence on peril of being publicly branded as “non-Gujarati and non-Hindu” by chief minister Narendra Modi. A resident of Gujarat for nearly 40 years, Prakash is the founding director of Prashant, a centre for human rights, peace and justice. He was named Chevalier of the...

-The Hindu   Justice Markandey Katju, Chairman, Press Council of India, has issued the following clarification on his critical observations of the Indian media.   I have expressed my views relating to the media in several T.V. interviews I gave as well as in my articles in some newspapers. However, many people, including many media people, wanted clarification and amplification of some of the issues I had raised. Many media people (including several T.V. channels)...

-The Hindu   Scheduled caste farmers of Hussainapuram in Orvakal mandal in the district cultivated lands assigned to them after 45 years, taking the support of MGNREGS. The first-time farmers were happy to see lush green castor and redgram crops. However, the drought slightly damaged the crops, which otherwise would have brought them good yields. Around 31 SC families and others had been assigned 386 acres land nearly four decades ago under a...