-DNA   Tamil Nadu government ordered a judicial probe into Sunday’s police firing in Ramanathapuram district which claimed seven lives. “What happened at Paramakudi was unfortunate and we are forming an inquiry commission under a retired high court judge to probe the whole incident,” Jayalalithaa told the state assembly on Monday. Seven people were killed and more than fifty persons injured when police opened fire to quell a riot unleashed by a group...

Arvind Kejriwal is part of the brains trust behind the Anna Hazare movement, which has the potential to further undermine the Delhi order. The engineer-turned-civil servant-turned-RTI activist is now a mass campaigner for the Jan Lokpal bill and plans to expand the movement. He spoke to Saba Naqvi about his ideological convictions, faith in “the people”, dealings with the Aruna Roy-led National Campaign for People’s Right to Information (NCPRI) and...

The foreword — to the Draft National Land Acquisition and Rehabilitation and Resettlement Bill 2011 — that says “urbanisation is inevitable” (I.p.1) signifies danger. The Bill, if enacted in its present form, is likely to worsen, and not stop, displacement of tribal, Dalit and other backward communities. The Bill states: “The issue of who acquires land is less important than the process of land acquisition, compensation for land acquired and...

-The Hindu   Chaos prevails at the Government Rajaji Hospital where slogans were raised Hundreds of angry Dalits gathered at the Government Rajaji Hospital here on Sunday and raised slogans against the State government and the police for the firing on Dalits at Paramakudi in which five persons were killed. Chaos prevailed at the hospital as the protesters raised slogans after six Dalit youths — Siva, 19, Paramasivam, 20, Senthil Murugan, 23, Chaturagiri, 22,...

The next 72 hours will be crucial for the state as it battles to keep its head above rising floodwaters in the Mahanadi basin. Authorities kept an anxious watch on the situation today as Hirakud town was cut off from Sambalpur and the Pipli-Konark road was closed with several rivers still in spate. The government directed collectors of the 19 flood-hit districts to close down schools and colleges in the marooned...