-The Economic Times When the voting stops on August 19, the scorecard, which is currently 9-0, may well read 12-0. An emphatic and embarrassing rejection of state and corporate plans to mine bauxite atop the Niyam Dongar hilltop in the Kalahandi district of Odisha. Twelve tribal villages that call this mountain range home have, in all likelihood, secured their religious rights over the hill and its natural resources, including 72 million...

-The Telegraph The Centre is considering a proposal to financially compensate Muslims acquitted in terror cases, a move that could attract accusations of "minority appeasement" in the lead-up to next year's general election. Many Muslim youths have been acquitted of terror charges in the past few years, with the courts in several instances rapping the police for framing them. "These youths' lives are in a shambles because of the terrorist tag. It's the...

-Live Mint Fast clearance of river projects and the lack of disaster preparedness have wreaked havoc in Uttarakhand Relief operations in disaster-ravaged Uttarakhand have ended and the time seems ripe to take account of the institutional frailties that have contributed to the ongoing human disaster in the state. Chief minister Vijay Bahuguna has been blamed for inaction when the disaster first struck and has also admitted that the state did not...

-The Times of India NEW DELHI: The Centre is all set to legally lock horns with the Supreme Court by questioning the court's powers to call for judicial scrutiny the President's exercise of constitutional power to grant pardon or commute sentences of condemned prisoners. "The decision of the President under Article 72 of the Constitution, either accepting or rejecting a petition, is a sovereign act. This sovereign act is performed after the...

-The Hindu Indentured labour may be a forgotten part of our colonial economic history but Bihar and eastern Uttar Pradesh are still sending ‘Girmitya' to toil in distant lands The descendants of indentured labourers, who migrated from eastern Uttar Pradesh and Bihar to erstwhile colonies, recently met at The Hague in the Netherlands to commemorate 140 years of migration - perpetuated through a system popularly known as ‘Girmit.' They gathered from all...