-The Hindu   It speaks to the deeply divisive times we live in that Team Anna activist and Supreme Court lawyer Prashant Bhushan was savagely assaulted in his own chamber — and in the full glare of television cameras — for the “crime” of saying something that his attackers disapproved of. In the past, intolerant groups who seem to have no problem breaking the law with impunity, have targeted writers, artists, journalists,...

-The Times of India   The government's decision to recast policy guidelines for TV channels, which in effect has held out the threat of canceling the licence of news channels if they are guilty of five "violations", has created an outrage among broadcasters and civil rights activists who have described it as a knee jerk reaction and demanded an immediate withdrawal of the order. Broadcasters feel that blocking a news channel can't depend...

India is finally ready with a comprehensive Bill that will protect children from sexual abuse. But the Bill, says author-activist Pinki Virani, has a major flaw regarding sexual consent that needs to be immediately addressed and the stakeholders consulted before it becomes law. With a certain Standing Committee so much in the news, let us look at what is happening with another Standing Committee looking into a Bill to protect children...

Mamata Banerjee’s assurance over land allotment, coal access falls flat. Two weeks after West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee assured JSW Steel vice chairman and managing director Sajjan Jindal that all issues will be ironed out, fresh problems, including capping access to coal mines have struck the state’s largest investment. A number of riders are creeping into the terms and conditions set forth in the development agreement that JSW Steel had signed...

30 per cent of cars sold last year were with diesel engines The growing gap between the prices of petrol and diesel has given a boost to the sale of diesel cars even as environmentalists cry foul over the public health impact due to the increasing use of diesel, which is also referred to as “dirty fuel” in Indian cities. While petrol consumers are paying market-linked prices of Rs. 66.84 per litre...