Judicial gag orders are as abhorrent as executive restraints on the media   Some interim orders issued by the courts have restrained publication or comment on certain matters of public importance. Orders imposing judicial censorship on the media have been extremely rare. Except in the rarest of rare cases, judicial “gag orders” are as abhorrent as executive restraints on the media. The changed situation calls for a comment on these judicial orders and...

“The best way to solve the problem of surplus foodgrains is to roll out food security law” Opposing the Union Finance and Food & Civil Supply Ministries' proposal for providing foodgrains as part payment of wages under the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme, Union Rural Development Minister Jairam Ramesh holds that the best way to solve the problem of surplus foodgrains is to roll out the food security law...

Overlooked and ignored, the problem of untouchability continues to be practised and perpetrated in the country. It is a lifetime of misery and humiliation, unimaginable for the relatively privileged but a daily reality for over one-fifth of the country’s 120 crore-plus population, as revealed succinctly in 22 short and easy to view videos under the Article 17 Campaign launched on April 14, 2012 by India Unheard, which claims to be...

-The Times of India NAGPUR: The recent attacks on the security forces interspersed with a spate of civilian killings in eastern Vidarbha's most dreaded Naxal bastion Gadchiroli has set a trail of fear in the tribal district. With the rebels' annual 'Tactical counter offensive campaign' (TCOC) already underway in their strongholds nationwide, the Naxal violence is expected to escalate in the affected hinterlands. Security sources stated that Naxals generally conduct TCOC in...

-The Telegraph Srinagar’s city centre today turned bunker-free for the first time since militancy erupted two decades ago, but it coincided with a firing incident in which a policeman fell to a militant’s bullet in the old city. Sukhpal Singh, an assistant sub-inspector, was shot dead from point-blank range at Darish Kadal while on duty at the Baghyas Chattabal post. A police officer said Singh was drenched in blood when he was shifted...