-The Telegraph   Wal-Mart Stores Inc — the $446 billion retail behemoth — will be able to open stores in 22 cities across the country after the government notified a press note tonight permitting foreign direct investment up to 51 per cent in multi-brand retailing operations. The press note — which contained clauses that were not spelt out in the controversial press release issued last Friday after the cabinet formally cleared the proposal...

-The Hindu Hearings suspended in maharashtra, Kerala, Rajasthan A quick survey of the fallout of the Supreme Court order directing that State Information Commissions “henceforth” work on benches of two members each — one of them a ‘judicial member’ and the other an ‘expert member’ — has shown that work in some SICs hearing appeals under the Right to Information (RTI) Act has ground to a halt. Other SICs found no barrier to...

-Economic and Political Weekly  The Government of India is considering a proposal to notify farming as an essential service. This is ostensibly to bring drought relief to farmers suffering from a weak monsoon - a laudable goal indeed. However, if farming is deemed an "essential service", farmers and farm workers could lose many of their political and civic rights because the government can then invoke the Essential Services Maintenance Act to...

-The Times of India MUMBAI: Contrary to MNS chief Raj Thackeray's ongoing tirade, migrants to cities like Mumbai are not 'outsiders' from other states. Nearly 70% of them come from rural or urban areas within maharashtra itself, reveals an analysis of data from the National Sample Survey Organization's (NSSO) 64th round. For every migrant coming to a city in maharashtra from the urban areas of other states such as Bihar, Uttar Pradesh...

-PTI Bombay High Court today upheld the ban on gutkha and pan masala in maharashtra. The court, hearing pleas filed by gutkha and pan masala makers, said the tobacco flavoured products fell within the definition of “food” and hence the commissioner of Food and Drugs Administration has the power to ban them. A division bench of Chief Justice Mohit Shah and Justice Nitin Jamdar ordered the state government not to destroy the seized...