-The Times of India   It will be illegal for government employees in the state to go on strike or hold rallies if chief minister Mamata Banerjee has her way.  In a decision that has sent ripples down both camps, the government wants to take away the employees ' right to association, leave aside strike, that the Left Front government had bestowed upon them.  The bold step - once approved by the Cabinet -...

-The Telegraph The Supreme Court today said a public servant facing corruption charges need not be heard before the competent authority decides on sanctioning prosecution. “…the person for whose prosecution the sanction is sought is not required to be heard before a decision in the matter. What is required to be seen is whether the facts placed before it, which, in a given case, may include the material collected by the complainant...

-The Telegraph   Land protesters today uprooted a portion of the fencing for the airport city project at Andal near Durgapur claiming the plot belonged to them and alleged that they were yet to get compensation. The crowd of over 50, which included farmers, share-croppers and farm labourers, marched to the site in Dakshinkhanda area, 200km from Calcutta, around 11.30am. They first shouted slogans and then yanked off barbed wires put up for the...

-The Economic Times   The IMF wants to increase its lending capacity by $1 trillion, to rescue distressed countries in the eurozone plus those hit by aftershocks from the eurozone.  But US is struggling with fiscal problems of its own, Japan now has the highest debt/GDP ratio in the world (over 200%), and Europe is moving into an austerity phase. Clearly, a significant chunk of the new trillion will have to come from...

-The Telegraph CPM leader Lakshman Seth has been accused of murder in a CID chargesheet over the disappearance of six anti-land acquisition protesters during the party’s recapture of Nandigram in November 2007. The chargesheet, submitted to the Haldia sub-divisional court around 5.10pm, also names 87 other CPM leaders and workers. “Seth has been mentioned in the chargesheet as an accused who is absconding,” a senior CID official said. Hours after the CID submitted the...