-Outlook The much-awaited Lokpal Bill today got the assent from President Pranab Mukherjee, providing for creation of an anti-graft watchdog which will BRIng under its purview even the Prime Minister with certain safeguards. The Bill was passed by the Rajya Sabha on December 17 and by the Lok Sabha the next day. The Lok Sabha secretariat had yesterday sent to the Law Ministry a copy of the Bill which has been signed by...

-The Hindu     Camp after camp has been forced to disappear in Muzaffarnagar by the official authorities. The people displaced by the communal riots are now in small shanty settlements, 10 tents here, another 10 tents half a kilometre down the road On December 26, 2013, a large group of visitors entered the Loi relief camp in Muzaffarnagar district, Uttar Pradesh. Loi camp - a festering sea of displaced and despairing humanity, with...

-The Hindustan Times Many ongoing projects including housing and industries will brace for an escalation in costs as the new land law has come into force on Wednesday. The much-touted Right to Fair Compensation and Transparency in Rehabilitation and Resettlement law-that provides four times hike in rural land price-will apply to all projects where compensations are yet to be given for land acquisition. Industries like the housing or hotels will be forced to...

-The Times of India NEW DELHI: Opposition parties and activists who have been campaigning against private discoms and tariff hikes slammed the government's decision to increase the subsidy on power consumption on Tuesday. While BJP criticized the move, Congress said it is analyzing the implications of the subsidy announcement. BJP said money meant for welfare schemes would be spent on the increased subsidy. "He is giving subsidy to people at the cost...

-Survival International Anthropologist Dr. Felix Padel works with the tribes of Odisha in eastern India, including the Dongria Kondh, for whom Survival International has campaigned for 10 years. Felix is the great great grandson of Charles Darwin and lives in a remote village in Odisha. In this interview, he talks to Survival about the Dongria Kondh's relationship to their mountains, their heroic struggle against Vedanta, Darwin's evolution theory and the experience...