-Live Mint He is at the head of a march to Delhi for a new policy that promises every poor family a small patch of land Morena (Madhya Pradesh): One hot Friday in October, a 64-year-old man named P.V. Rajagopal is marching at the head of a procession of around 50,000 people on the highway from Gwalior to Delhi.   Rajagopal is slight and heavily sunburnt, and has walked tens of thousands of kilometres...

-Mainstream Weekly Intense and motivated propaganda, powerful national and international diplomatic pressure, verging on pure and simple arms-twisting of the kind the Third World has been facing for decades by means of the active role of the econo-mic hit-men in the policy establishments, huge cash-back lobbying, both in India and abroad, blunt attempts to bamboozle the persons holding key positions in India’s policy establishment through a combination of hissing and kissing...

-Outlook Aiming to humanise the treatment of mental illnesses, government has drafted a new Bill which proposes to give patients the right to choose in advance the kind of treatment and recommends use of electric shocks in rare cases. In the new draft law for mental sickness, government also proposes to ban electro convulsive treatment (ECT) (electric shocks) for minors as also its use directly in adults and recommended its use only...

-PTI The government should only in exceptional cases permit acquisition of farm land for non- agriculture purposes like setting up of industries and housing projects, Agriculture Minister Sharad Pawar said on Tuesday. Mr. Pawar, who heads the Empowered Group of Ministers (EGoM) on Land acquisition bill, said there is a pressure on farm land because of rising population. He said the government would ensure agricultural land having high yields is not allowed for...

-The Times of India Comptroller and auditor general Vinod Rai on Monday defended his audit reports and said they were carried out with objectivity and in a professional manner. "To ensure that our professional and personal conduct is above reproach, we have adopted a code of ethics comprising the general ethical requirements of integrity, objectivity, professional secrecy and competence," he said addressing an accountants general (AGs) conference in the Capital. The three-day conference...