-The Telegraph   Assam chief minister Tarun Gogoi today came out in support of movements against corruption, but said that the rule of law alone cannot check corruption even as the relay hunger strike by supporters of Anna Hazare entered its fifth day here. Admitting to corrupt practices in government offices, Gogoi said his government was taking action to check corruption, but the effort would be rendered futile if the public did not...

Leprosy is generally taken as almost a non-issue in the country now. But, the surprise is that there has been a spurt in leprosy cases this year. No one seems to be worrying aloud about it too much, except a strange old man from Japan who has made it his job to eradicate leprosy and empower leprosy-cured people in this country. Of course, he works on the same issue in...

-The Economic Times   A clause introduced in the draft land acquisition bill will bring cases where the award of land is underway or possession has not taken place within the scope of compensatory and acquisition norms. This will make private developers, industries and the government, who are currently involved in the process of acquiring land, shell out generous compensation packages to land owners with retrospective effect. "The new clause that we...

-The Indian Express   Rural Development Minister Jairam Ramesh Friday hinted at introducing the Land Acquisition and Rehabilitation and Resettlement (LARR) Bill, 2011, in the current session of parliament by cutting short the period of public consultation on it. “The revised draft Bill was sent for inter-ministerial consultation on August 12. I hope to get Cabinet approval by the first week of September,” he said, hoping to introduce the Bill in the current...

The first thing that comes to our mind is — and this has nothing to do with this particular case — that even in 2003, when this misconduct was continuing, how come such persons get to be appointed? It really seriously means that we have to revisit that process. Originally, when the Constitution was framed, we had a system where judges were appointed by the executive in consultation with the...