—PTI Dismissive of the news broadcast industry's self-regulatory mechanism, Press Council of India Chairman Justice Markandey Katju has said if TV channels do not want to come under the PCI they should choose another body like the Lokpal. “Self-regulation is no regulation and news organisations are private bodies whose activities have a large influence on the public and they also must be answerable to the public,” he said. On Sunday, Justice Katju wrote...

Nine persons accused in the 2006 Malegaon serial blasts that left 31 dead got bail on Saturday. The Maharashtra ATS had arrested them claiming that they belonged to outlawed SIMI and aided a Pakistani in carrying out the attacks. The NIA, which has taken over the probe after Swami Aseemanand's confession that a saffron group was behind the blasts, did not oppose bail. Two of the nine, Shaikh Mohd Ali Alam Shaikh...

Some of the recent cases in the higher courts bring into sharp focus the dilemmas on the death penalty. ON October 10, the Supreme Court Bench of Justices Aftab Alam and C.K. Prasad stayed the execution of Ajmal Kasab, the lone surviving assailant in the November 2008 Mumbai terror attack, by admitting his appeal against the death sentence awarded to him by the Bombay High Court. The Bench wondered whether Kasab deserved...

Comptroller and Auditor General Vinod Rai in his address to recruits at the National Police Academy sought to enlist them in his campaign. BAGEHOT'S classic explains why and how a genre of civil servants mushroomed in India latterly as executive power, authority and prestige declined. None of them had earlier revealed a particularly strong spine. T.N. Seshan bared his traits once he was appointed Chief Election Commissioner (CEC). Others need not...

The European Commission has registered Darjeeling Tea as a Protected Geographic Indication (PGI) product — the first commodity from India to get such a tag. The status implies that the brew produced only in Darjeeling can be sold as Darjeeling Tea in the European Union countries. But a section of blenders, who at present pass off brew with a certain percentage of Darjeeling brew as Darjeeling Tea, have been given a...