-The Hindu A little used provision in the Constitution may hold the key to protecting the interests of Scheduled Tribes as they fight to hold on to their traditional lands Even 67 years after Independence, the problems of Adivasi communities are about access to basic needs. These include, but are not restricted to, elementary education, community healthcare, sustainable livelihood support, the public distribution system, food security, drinking water and sanitation, debt, and...

-The Times of India NEW DELHI: The NDA government on Thursday cited a six-decade old ruling of the Supreme Court to argue that citizens could not claim right to privacy as a fundamental right, a stand which could raise the hackles of civil rights groups. The argument, advanced by attorney general Mukul Rohatgi, ran contrary to many post-Emergency judgments of the Supreme Court expanding the right to life, guaranteed under Article 21...

-The Times of India NEW DELHI: Challenging repromulgation of land acquisition ordinance by Narendra Modi government, three Delhi-based NGOs and Bharatiya Kisan Union (BKU) on Thursday told the Supreme Court that government was trying to "govern the country by ordinance raj" which was not permissible. Appearing before a bench headed by Justice JS Khehar, senior advocate Indira Jaising said that the govt is making mockery of the constitution by bringing ordinances when...

-The Telegraph New Delhi: The Centre today urged the Supreme Court to vacate its two-year-old stay on making Aadhaar cards mandatory for welfare benefits, praising the "tremendous success" of a programme Narendra Modi had trashed as a "scam" while in Opposition. Moving an application in the apex court, the government pleaded that the court stay was hobbling various social-sector programmes, including the direct benefit transfer schemes. It said that while beneficiaries' money was...

-The Hindu By abdicating its responsibility to conduct the caste census and turning it into a poverty-cum-caste survey, the previous dispensation at the Centre made the exercise casual and perfunctory. This has been proved by the way the survey has turned out. In August 2010, Finance Minister and head of the Group of Ministers, Pranab Mukherjee, made a reassuring statement in Parliament on behalf of the government of India, that there would...