-The Economic Times   The Haryana government on Friday imposed a ban on the week-long workers' strike at Maruti Suzuki's Manesar plant by passing prohibitory orders, seeking to find a solution through legal recourse to the issue which threatens to spiral into a labour unrest in India's biggest auto hub. Despite the government mounting pressure by deploying additional police force at the factory on late Friday evening, workers have decided to continue...

Roadblocks Ahead     * The MIDC has been winding up its plans to set up SEZs     * As many as 28 SEZ proposals, in the government and private sector, were withdrawn or projects denotified in the last six months     * Farmer protests, land acquisition problems, economic downturn and non-feasible tax regimes are cited as reasons for developers backing out. CM Prithviraj Chavan too exercises great caution. *** Mandated to create industrial opportunities in...

Victims have not forgotten the following brutal tragedies in the life of independent India, even if the State and political parties may pretend to have. 1984—Delhi: On October 31, Prime Minister Indira Gandhi was assassinated by her two Sikh bodyguards in revenge for ‘Operation Bluestar’. For the next three days, as Doordarshan telecast the lying in state of her body, over 3000 Sikhs—men and boys—were burnt alive while policemen, politicians and...

When it was almost certain that the governments of the country were to take their hands off from total acquisition of land for a private project, the Sonia Gandhi-led National Advisory Council has started thinking otherwise. The thought went out for hundred per cent acquisition by the government. Had this come at the germinal stage of discussion about changes in the colonial Act, it could have resulted in Mamata Banerjee’s face...

-The Hindu   Polit Bureau discusses reports of West Bengal, Kerala State Committees on Assembly elections The Communist Party of India (Marxist) on Friday reiterated its commitment to inclusion of the Prime Minister in the purview of the proposed institution of Lokpal. Addressing journalists after the Polit Bureau meeting, MP Sitaram Yechury recalled that a law on Lokpal was something that the party was pursuing for 30 years since the Bofors issue...