In unprecedented action, a senior professor of Jadavpur University and the secretary of a housing society in Kolkata had to spend Thursday night in jail for forwarding an e-mail that contained a cartoon featuring Trinamool Congress leaders Mamata Banerjee, Mukul Roy and Dinesh Trivedi. They were charged with defamation and outraging the modesty of a woman.   Top officers in the Kolkata police confirmed that there was no parallel in the state...

-The Business Standard The transition to direct fertiliser subsidy will not be easy The road map for direct transfer of fertiliser subsidy to farmers that Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee outlined in the Budget has come under a cloud even before it is rolled out. Most in the fertiliser sector – including, notably, the fertiliser ministry and fertiliser dealers – are wary of trying it out, for fear that it might create more...

-The Hindustan Times Imagine this: you have two children, a toddler and a teenager. Would you ever leave the younger one in the care of the older one (unsupervised by a senior) for a long period of time? Or would you leave your minor child unattended at home with gas and electrical appliances within his/her reach? In both cases, we assume, the answer would be a firm no. But when it...

-The Times of India   The court of additional sessions judge Vinay Joshi on Tuesday released 48 farmers on a regular bail after they were arrested in connection with the Maval firing case recently.  The farmers were released on a personal Bond of Rs 7,500 with one surety of the like amount each. The court directed the police to give written intimations to the farmers whenever they were called for interrogation. The farmers were...

Twenty-two organisations, led by the Association for Protection of Democratic Rights, have decided to launch a protest here alleging that Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee has backtracked from her pre-poll promise to release all political prisoners.   “The APDR, along with 21 organisations, has decided to start a movement for the release of political prisoners. A rally from College Square to Metro Channel will be held in the third week of April and...