-The Telegraph   Ashok V. Desai,consulting editor of The Telegraph and chief consultant to the finance minister when Manmohan Singh launched the economic reforms, takes a deep dive into statistics to figure out what is wrong with the economy as Pranab Mukherjee leaves the finance ministry and Singh takes charge The growth rate of gross domestic product is reported to have come down. What does that mean? Before the question can be answered,...

The Central Information Commission ( CIC) has directed the home ministry to disclose file notings and correspondence related to the mercy petitions of all death row convicts including Afzal Guru. Giving the order information commissioner Sushma Singh asked the home ministry to provide information of mercy petitions related to all convicts (pending and disposed) after Devindersingh Khullar and Mahendernath Dass. The order was based on a RTI application filed by activists S...

-The Times of India India is among the top 10 nations to acquire land in both domestic and transnational deals, according to a report released this month by the Washington-based World Watch Institute (WWI). It lists India as a big investor in land globally and among the top 'land grabbers' because what is acquired is agricultural land.  The data has been sourced from an international coalition of NGOs and research groups called...

The army is bristling at a fresh move in the government to dilute or revoke the Armed Forces Special Powers Act. The AFSPA gives the army extraordinary powers in Jammu and Kashmir and the Northeast to enforce law and order in aid of the civilian authority. The army is particularly concerned about proposals floated from the Union home ministry to make it mandatory for soldiers to seek permission from a civilian authority...

-PTI The government today told the Supreme Court that “auction cannot be the only permissible method for disposal of natural resources” and a uniform policy on their distribution was “neither practical nor can it subserve the common good”. The Centre also said the allocation of natural resources was a policy matter and beyond the purview of judicial review. The submissions came in response to questions by the apex court on the Presidential Reference...