-The Times of India There was no let up in bad news for the government on the economic front. Amid the debate over slowing economic growth, data released by the Central Statistics Office (CSO) on Tuesday showed industrial output fell 0.6% in December, posing fresh policy challenges. This is the second successive month of decline for factory growth which has remained anaemic due to a string of factors including high interest rates,...

-The Telegraph Union power ministry is understood to have decided to go ahead with its 1980MW project covering Chatra and Hazaribagh districts, overriding coal ministry objections but has agreed to cut down land use for the proposed plant in North Karanpura. Setting aside objections of the coal ministry, which wanted the project shifted out of the coal-rich area, the power ministry has now moved a draft cabinet note indicating its resolve to...

-The Hindu Mr. Chidambaram has sought to blame the Army for the failure to repeal the draconian Act but the government is equally guilty as it has abdicated responsibility in the matter At an institute that is virtually owned, funded and run by the Ministry of Defence (MoD), Union Finance Minister P. Chidambaram did the unthinkable the other day. He virtually attacked the Army for refusing to review and amend the draconian...

-The Hindustan Times The hanging of the 2001 Parliament attack accused Afzal Guru in Delhi’s Tihar Jail last week evoked a range of diverse emotions. While Guru’s Sopore-based family accused the Union government of not informing them about the execution, the State rejected the charge. A senior Supreme Court lawyer questioned the timing of the execution, saying that the Centre decided to hang Guru at this time because several important assembly...

-The Hindustan Times The European Union on Friday staunchly defended its decision to re-engage with Narendra Modi a day after it emerged that the Gujarat chief minister had a quiet lunch with the ambassadors of the member countries here early this year, ending a decade-old boycott.   The January 7 lunch is likely to be seen as a major boost for Modi, who after his third successive win in the western state, is...