The government on Monday said its contention that there was no immediate and serious threat to the Himalayan glaciers was vindicated with the latest evidence suggesting that the Inter-governmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) claim on the glaciers disappearing by 2035 due to climate change, was not based on scientific evidence. Contested issue In 1999, glaciologist Syed Iqbal Hasnain claimed that if the current pace of global warming continued unabated,...

The Supreme Court has struck a blow against a menace “as old as human civilisation”, saying courts cannot sanction encroachments even if the land-grabbers are poor. In a ruling last week in a case that went back over 40 years, a two-judge bench said it was “necessary to remember” that no amount of vigil could stop unauthorised occupation of public land by “UNSCrupulous” elements who “act like vultures”. Justices G.S. Singhvi and...

With the Delhi high court ruling that the office of the Chief Justice of India comes within the ambit of the Right to Information Act, a long-drawn-out debate will now hopefully find amicable resolution. The ruling of the three-judge bench was on an appeal by the Supreme Court registry against the high court’s single-judge verdict in September. The challenge to the September verdict was that such liberal interpretation of the...

Kabul (Reuters): Dozens of Indian labourers have been forced to take refuge in a Sikh temple in Kabul after job agents who promised lucrative jobs in the unstable capital disappeared, leaving the men penniless and without passports. Billions of dollars in western military contracts have turned Afghanistan — long a source of refugees fleeing chronic conflict — into an unlikely magnet for migrant workers willing to risk their lives for a...

“States should ensure effective public distribution system”  Fiscal deficit at 6.8 per cent of GDP a challenge Dip in exports due to low demand following economic downturn in foreign markets Union Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee on Thursday said increasing food grains productivity, ensuring effective distribution of subsidised essentials to vulnerable groups and allowing duty-free import were some of the steps taken to control the spiralling prices of essential commodities. Speaking at the 109th...