-The Hindu Freedom of expression will continue to remain under siege unless all groups accept that people can have different opinions and beliefs in a free country “Our tradition teaches tolerance; our philosophy preaches tolerance; our Constitution practises tolerance; let us not dilute it.” These stirring sentiments were expressed by Justice Chinnappa Reddy in a Supreme Court judgment pronounced in August 1986 which invalidated expulsion from school of students belonging to Jehova’s...

-The Hindu Udupi: Taluk unit of Communist Party of India (Marxist) held a signature campaign seeking food security to people here on Tuesday. Balakrishna Shetty, member of the State Committee of CPI(M), said that nearly 1,200 people had signed the petition seeking food security at the Service Bus Stand here from 3 p.m. to 6 p.m. Nearly 10,000 people had signed the petition in the district. The signature campaign was a nation-wide initiative...

-DNA Crashing economy, lower revenue generation and less then expected tax collection will show its impact on the upcoming budget. The biggest loser is going to be the rural development ministry, which is likely to see a decline in central assistance for its welfare schemes. Rural development has been the top priority of the UPA-2. However, grim economic growth has forced finance minister P Chidambaram to cut the budget of the...

-The Hindu While there is reason to be proud of the progress in the production of wheat, rice, cereals and millets, the use of farmland for non-farm purposes is a cause for concern The year 2013 marks the 70th anniversary of the Bengal Famine which resulted in the death of an estimated 1.5 to 3 million children, women and men during 1942-43. A constellation of factors led to this mega-tragedy, such as...

-The Telegraph Law minister Ashwani Kumar today said the government had an “open” mind on changes in the juvenile justice act and the recently introduced Criminal Law (Amendment) Ordinance to ensure a credible deterrent that wouldn’t lend itself to abuse. He said the “final shape” to the new criminal law would emerge after a “comprehensive debate” in Parliament but didn’t set a time frame for changes in the JJ Act, 2000. The minister’s...