-PTI   Congress President Sonia Gandhi today strongly pitched for utilising MNREGA to increase agricultural production, saying the flagship scheme can play a big role to usher in second green revolution in India. "I am of the belief that MNREGA has tremendous potential to increase agriculture production, which we have not been able to tap fully till date. There are many possibilities not only for creating community assets in villages but also providing...

-The Indian Express Here lies Ashis Nandy, who died of a bad joke". This would be the most appropriate epitaph for Nandy, insisted my colleague and sinologist, late Giri Deshingkar, in his rare moment of black humour. The reference, of course, was to Nandy's unusual way with words. Over the last four decades, Ashis Nandy has presented his insights through some very powerful symbols. He loves paradoxes and uses aphorisms, ironies...

-The Times of India ROHTAK: Hayrana khap panchayats have demanded closure of Arya Samaj temples for "encouraging inter-caste and love marriages." The demand was raised during an all-caste meeting held in Jhajjar on Sunday. The meeting was held in an attempt to rope in people of different castes, including dalits and other backward classes (OBCs), to strengthen their case during arguments in the Supreme Court against honour killing and same-gotra marriages. Om Prakash...

-The Telegraph When survival is at stake, tweet. Khap panchayats, the extra-judicial village courts that face possible ban following allegations of encouraging “honour killings”, have decided to give themselves an image makeover. And the “best way” of doing that, they feel, is logging on to social networking sites like Twitter and Facebook. “It is essential for us to spread information about what we do and who we are. The Internet is the best way...

-Outlook Mediapersons, legal experts and civil society have suggested the setting up of a constitutionally mandated regulator to check "misuse and abuse" of the media in the country. Some discussants also suggested establishing a consultative group for norms, conduct and ethics to monitor implementation by the media and to facilitate greater degree of coordination between government, media business and civil society. They were speaking at a conference on "Media Regulation: Is Status Quo...