Bench refuses to stay Karnataka High Court order In a major setback to the UPA government at the Centre, the Supreme Court on Monday refused to stay the Karnataka High Court order for payment of minimum wages to the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme (MGNREGS) workers and suggested that the government, instead of appearing adversarial, should resolve the issue through a consultative process. The only relief the government secured was...

-The Telegraph   TV pictures of a young woman being pulled by the hair and thrashed inside a police station have caused outrage in poll-bound Punjab and embarrassed the ruling Shiromani Akali Dal. Raj Kaur, 22, was beaten up by head constable Manjeet Singh at the Baretta police station, over 200km from Chandigarh, in Mansa district for allegedly stealing a gold chain. Someone filmed the assault on a cellphone camera. A district official alleged...

-The Economic Times Anti-graft crusader Anna Hazare on Sunday shot off a letter to Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, asking him to replace the 'weak' Lokpal bill with a "really stringent'' one.  Similar letters, with a few variations, were sent to Congress general secretary Rahul Gandhi, BJP president Nitin Gadkari, his Samajwadi Party counterpart Mulayam Singh Yadav and Uttar Pradesh chief minister Mayawati.  These parties are the main contenders in the assembly polls in...

-The Times of India   BJP on Saturday said inclusion of all Indian residents in the Unique Identification (UID) number scheme would present a threat to the nation's security by giving illegal migrants Rights of citizens. "In many parts of India, infiltrators from Bangladesh are there, there are people from Pakistan living in parts, they are not citizens of India, but terror, trouble and destabilization is fomented by them," party spokesperson Ravi Shankar...

Controversy has hit the child Rights' panel again with two members putting in their papers within six months. Child health specialist Dr Dinesh Laroia resigned recently in quick succession to educationist Sukanya Bharatram, who quit in August, 2011. While Dr Laroia cited personal reasons for his resignation, sources said that there were differences with panel chief Shanta Sinha. With the two resignations, the number of members in the national commission for...