In a significant ruling, the Supreme Court has held that there is no legal sanctity attached to verdicts of village panchayats, including khaps, that touch personal lives of couples, even if the community accepts such decisions. Handing out this ruling in a case where a village panchayat in Uttar Pradesh had granted divorce to an Army man from his teacher wife, a Bench comprising Justices P Sathasivam and B S...
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AG's letter belies Orissa govt's claim on Vedanta clearance by Rajaram Satapathy
A letter written by the attorney general to environment and forest minister Jairam Ramesh proves that the SC had never granted forest clearance for the Vedanta project on its own nor did it restrict the ministry's role on the issue. The letter is in contrast to the allegations made by Orissa government and BJD leaders that the SC had granted forest clearance to the project and that the Centre's decision...
More »School kids cut CM to size, Mayavati shrinks to Mavati by Tapas Chakraborty
Mayavati had better do something quick about the state of schools in Uttar Pradesh if she wants children to spell her name right. An NGO assessing the District Primary Education Programme and Sarva Siksha Abhiyan, a national programme for universalisation of elementary education, asked 16 students of Classes III and IV of a government school in Joar village near Lucknow to write the name of their chief minister in Hindi. Mavit and...
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After successfully contesting a patent dispute with China earlier this year — regarding formulations based on “pudina” (mint) and “kalamegha” (Andrographis) — India last week won another legal battle in Malaysia against the use of “ponni” rice as trademark. Like basmati, ponni is also a speciality rice grown exclusively in southern states and has a niche market abroad. These and other victories concerning patenting of products like neem (Azadirachta indica)...
More »Khunti resists new forest act by Suman K Shrivastava
The Centre’s sunshine law — Scheduled Tribes and Other Traditional Forest Dwellers (Recognition of Forest Rights) Act, 2006, — has failed to find favour in Khunti district, the birthplace of tribal icon Birsa Munda. Villagers in the district said the new act is irrelevant as the Chotanagpur Tenancy (CNT) Act, 1908, framed by the British following the Birsa movement, ensures more rights to the tribals than what the new law promises. Little...
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