-IANS The central government cancelled the Antrix Corporation-Devas Multimedia deal for reasons of national security and not for purported loss of revenue in sale of spectrum, Minister of State in the Prime Minister's Office V. Narayanasamy has said. He also said the government was not discriminating between space scientists and Indian Administrative Service (IAS) officials and, based on their culpability, punitive action would be taken against the latter too. "We did not cancel...

-The Indian Express   The last time he was at the Jaipur Literature Festival, Salman Rushdie was barely noticed. He spent three days in the city in 2007, and faced no protests. Some of the protesters this time agree that few had known about that visit. The opposition began with the Darul Uloom Deoband in UP before being taken up in Rajasthan, where the protests were spearheaded by Amin Pathan, chairperson for the...

Home minister P Chidambaram has written to Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, requesting him to call a Cabinet meeting to sort out differences between North Block and Planning Commission that threaten to scupper the ambitious programme. "I request that you may kindly instruct the Planning Commission to immediately bring a note to the Cabinet that the cabinet secretariat to list the note before the Cabinet so that a final decision can be...

Not only are the Forest Rights Act and the Panchayats Extension to Scheduled Areas Act routinely violated in Chhattisgarh, the adivasis are also short-changed on legislative representation and reservations in government jobs. As the state cedes land to capital while reducing the adivasis to an ornamental presence, there is increasing assertion of adivasi identity, born out of class predicaments and experiences of displacement as much as notions of indigeneity. Supriya Sharma...

The Bar Council of India (BCI) today announced that lawyers throughout the country would stay off court work on January 20 as a mark of protest against the new education super-regulator proposed by the central government. At a media conference here, chairperson Ashok K. Parija said the BCI had asked all state bar councils to register their protest in ways they “thought fit” but added that most had decided to “abstain...