-The Times of India ROHTAK: The notorious khap panchayats of Haryana on Sunday demanded a legal ban on same-gotra and same-village marriages, saying such a measure could solve the problem of rising crime against women. Leaders of 30 khap panchayats who met in Rohtak passed a resolution calling for an amendment in the Hindu Marriage Act to bring the ban on such marriages into effect. The leaders vowed to take up this demand...

-The Indian Express The case in the Supreme Court must be a wake-up call for the Centre With the Supreme Court scheduled to take up a report proposing a ban on field trials of genetically modified (GM) food crops, India’s quest for food security hangs in the balance. Hearing a petition against GM crops, the court had appointed a technical expert committee. Its report is in, and its findings make for a...

-IPS News Environmental activists are cautiously optimistic that a call by a court-appointed technical committee for a ten-year moratorium on open field trials of genetically modified (GM) crops will shelve plans to introduce bio-engineered foods in this largely agricultural country. “We are now waiting to see whether the Supreme Court will accept the recommendations of its own committee at the next hearing on Oct. 29,” said Devinder Sharma, chairman of the Forum...

-The Indian Express Almost three years after a genetically-engineered variety of brinjal (Bt brinjal) was put on indefinite hold — putting a question mark on the fate of genetically-modified crops in India — the government is making efforts make up for the time lost and put research in GM science back on track. In a fervent appeal to all chief ministers, some of whom have taken a public position against GM crops,...

-The Hindustan Times Government officials riding high on hopes that privacy concerns could blunt the right to information are in for disappointment. An expert panel set up to build a framework for a privacy regulation in India has brushed aside suggestions that the information law was trampling upon privacy of public servants or individuals in public life. The Justice (retd) Ajit Prakash Shah panel has told the government that privacy was only...