Indian human rights activist Binayak Sen has accused the government of misusing the country's sedition laws "to silence voices of dissent". In an interview with the BBC, he said that the laws were an outdated relic from the country's colonial past. Dr Sen was freed from jail in the state of Chhattisgarh earlier this month. He had been sentenced to life in prison in December for helping Maoist rebels. The government is reportedly...

The NGO which brought the 2G spectrum case to the Supreme Court, on Thursday alleged "big fish" like Reliance Telecom Chairman Anil Ambani, Essar's CEO Prashant Ruia and Tatas' who are real beneficiaries have been left out of CBI chargesheets. The NGO, Centre for Public Interest Litigation (CPIL), told the apex court that Shahid Usman Balwa-promoted Swan Telecom and Loop Telecom were the front companies for RCom and Essar Group respectively...

Loss to the exchequer due to the grant of 122 licences to new entrants in 2008 was Rs.1.24-lakh crore Government lost Rs.36,000-crore in grant of dual-technology licences The government must get exact loss calculated instead of washing its hands of it The draft report of the Public Accounts Committee on the 2G scam has come out with yet another figure for the loss to the exchequer, putting it at Rs.1.90-lakh crore in the...

Mayawati has brought rural health mission under Chief Secretary's control Visits slain CMO's house; killing was linked to alleged financial bungling under NRHM Rita Bahuguna files RTI plea on mis-utilisation of Central funds under NRHM A day after Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Mayawati brought the implementation of the National Rural Health Mission (NRHM) directly under the administrative control of the Chief Secretary, Congress general secretary Rahul Gandhi sent a strong political message when...

Free speech advocates and Internet users are protesting new Indian regulations restricting Web content that, among other things, can be considered "disparaging," "harassing," "blasphemous" or "hateful." The new rules, quietly issued by the country's Department of Information Technology earlier this month and only now attracting attention, allow officials and private citizens to demand that Internet sites and service providers remove content they consider objectionable on the basis of a long list...