-The Friday Times How are demographics changing in Assam and Bengal? And what does this mean for 'indigenous' communities? Garga Chatterjee considers the argument for territorial purity The Assam state of the Indian Union has seen violence flare up suddenly from July 6th. With more than 40 people reported dead and upwards of one and a half lakh displaced in a week, the Kokrajhar riots between Bodos and Muslims have again brought...

-The Hindustan Times Courts will now view the revelation of children’s identities by the media while covering criminal cases very strictly.   The Delhi high court on Wednesday tightened norms for media reporting in cases involving children. The order came keeping in mind the brazen manner in which the identity of the two-year-old battered child, who died while fighting for her life at AIIMS, and other minors involved in the case was...

-The Hindu Political mobilisation along ethnic lines has played a dominant role in reinforcing group differences in Assam, with blatant disregard for the present realities of its demography For the people of Assam, the last few weeks have brought misery upon misery. No sooner had they begun to recover from the floods, than came the riots that have rendered thousands homeless in the Boro Territorial Autonomous District (BTAD). The violence has not...

-Live Mint The much-awaited land acquisition Bill seems to be in jeopardy with the Congress-led United Progressive Alliance (UPA) government rejecting a parliamentary standing committee’s suggestion the government should not acquire land for public-private-partnership (PPP) projects. But it has accepted that land procured for special economic zones (SEZs) and some defence projects cannot be exempted from the purview of a land acquisition Bill and promised to amend other laws pertaining to purchase...

-The Hindu “Study these four men washing down the steps of this unpalatable Bombay hotel. The first pours water from a bucket, the second scratches the tiles with a twig broom, the third uses a rag to slop the dirty water down the steps into another bucket, which is held by the fourth. After they have passed, the steps are as dirty as before… They are not required to clean,” but...