The Left Front has started mobilising the support of non-NDA and non-UPA parties to garner support against the Congress-led UPA government's move to push its economic reforms agenda with three much-delayed financial sector legislations. The Left Front will reach out to regional parties, including AIADMK, Samajwadi Party, Janata Dal (Secular), Biju Janata Dal and Asom Gana Parishad, to gather numbers against the legislations. Despite reservations expressed by UPA ally Trinamool Congress,...

-Reuters KHAMMAM (India): It was a deal struck almost 40 years ago by a poor, illiterate Indian farMer, driven by desperation after a drought wiped out his crops and left his family close to starvation. The agreement: 10 acres of land, the size of four soccer pitches, for a Mere 10 kg (22 lbs) of sorghum grains. "My father-in-law pawned the land for food," said Kowasalya Thati, lifting the hem of...

-PTI Ensure that findings of the probe are kept in a sealed cover The Supreme Court on Wednesday asked the Election Commission to proceed with its probe into the authenticity of the forMer Maharashtra Chief Minister Ashok Chavan's spendings during the 2009 State Assembly elections, allegedly involving expenses on “paid news.” A Bench of Justices Altamas Kabir and J. Chelameshwar, however, asked the Commission's counsel Meenakshi Arora to ensure that findings of the...

-Express News Service Three killers of forMer Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi will join families of several convicts on death row, including Devendra Pal Singh Bhullar, before the Supreme Court for commutation of their death penalty to life imprisonment owing to inordinate delay in Mercy process.   Invoking its constitutional powers to transfer any case which raises “substantial questions of general importance”, a Supreme Court Bench led by Justice G S Singhvi on Tuesday...

-The Deccan Herald   Thousands of tribals in the Yavatmal region bordering Andhra Pradesh will take to the streets in Pandharkawda Collectorate on Friday to press for a CBI probe into the alleged siphoning off over Rs 25 crores from schemes sponsored by the state and Central governments. The tribals, working under Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (MGNREGA), have not been paid since January 2012. The same goes for tendu leaf...