-The Business Standard   Tension prevailed in the Posco project site in Orissa as the irate villagers on Thursday detained two officials, one from Posco and another staff of Industrial Infrastructure Development Corporation of Orissa (Idco), who had gone to Noliasahi in Gadakujang panchayat for cutting of tress on the acquired land. They were later released after being held captive for about four hours. The officials, who had gone to the village without...

At half past four on the morning of July 2, a gang of Naxals donning Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) uniforms swooped down on the jagged Raunakabad hills and surrounded the tribal village of Kareili in Bihar's Munger district. The band, numbering 60-odd, massed in front of the village mukhiya's house and began rounding up a score of indigent Koda tribals at gun-point. The captives were beaten with INSAS rifle-butts...

This essay describes and compares Parliament and the Supreme Court and examines the relationship between them. Parliament may still be a great institution, but its members are no longer great men. How long can a great institution remain great in the hands of small men? The SC has held its place in the public esteem rather better than the Lok Sabha, despite the occasional allegation of financial impropriety. Parliament, the...

WITH GOVERNMENT agencies like the CBI, NIA and NATGRID having escaped the RTI scanner, publicprivate ventures too are trying to slink away even as activists rally to include them under the Act. After the Central Information Commission (CIC) ruled on 30 May that Mumbai International Airport (Private) Limited (MIAL) is a public authority, the company was set to be the first Public- private Partnership (PPP) to be brought under RTI....

-The Telegraph   The Mamata Banerjee government has kickstarted a process to hold talks with Maoists without mentioning conditions but acknowledged the responsibilities of governance by adding that central forces will remain until Jungle Mahal is cleansed of arms. The initiative also sought to address a fundamental issue often overlooked by the security and political establishments: the chief minister gave an assurance that the villagers will retain the right to forest resources so...