The Union Government, as India's central government is known, is divided into three distinct but interrelated branches: legislative, executive, and judicial.  As in the British parliamentary model, the leadership of the executive is drawn from and responsible to the legislative body.  Although Article 50 of the Constitution stipulates the separation of the Judiciary from the Executive, the executive controls judicial appointments and many of the conditions of work.  In addition, one of the more dramatic institutional battles in the Indian polity has been the struggle between elements wanting to assert legislative power to amend the constitution and those favoring the judiciary's efforts to preserve the constitution's basic structure.

Now that the Bharatiya Janata Party and the Janata Dal (Secular) have backed up with firm numbers their case for forming a new government in Karnataka, the Central government is left with no constitutional option but to revoke President’s Rule. (It’S A Numbers Game, Hindu, Editorial, The Hindu, Nov 08, 2007)

Turkey’s Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan, under pressure from several quarters to remove the restraints on his country’s military and allow it to raid the bases of Kurdish rebels in northern Iraq, obtained far less than he hoped for when he met . . . (A Looming Threat, Hindu, Editorial, The Hindu, Nov 08, 2007)

Desperate to regain control, CPM cadres rampaged through Nandigram I block today, entering village after village as they fired blanks in the air. Terrified villagers fled, seeking shelter in school buildings and relief camps. (Cpm Men Fire Their Way Into Nandigram, Party Tells Cm No Need For Crpf Yet, Indian Express, Correspondent or Reporter, Nov 08, 2007)

The Tehelka sting operation underscores the urgency of simultaneously pursuing the prosecution of the culprits and fighting Hindutva politically in a spirited way. (Unfinished Agenda, Frontline, Praful Bidwai, Nov 08, 2007)

The Janadesh Yatra has given the movement for land rights fresh momentum and also captured the popular imagination. (March For Land, Frontline, Jayati Ghosh, Nov 08, 2007)

THE 25 accused in the Tokyo War Crimes Trial were charged with crimes against peace: the planning, preparation, initiation, or waging of a declared or undeclared war of aggression, or a war in violation of international law, treaties. (A Dishonest Judgment, Frontline, A.G. NOORANI, Nov 07, 2007)

The two mainstream political parties, the National Conference (NC) and the People’s Democratic Party (PDP) have left little space for the All-Party Hurriyat Conference in the Kashmir valley. (Nc, Pdp Leave Little Space For Hurriyat , Tribune, Correspondent or Reporter, Nov 07, 2007)

In view of the Assembly elections in the state due next year, political parties active in the Jammu region have again raised the issue of statehood for Jammu. (Jsm Seeks Statehood For Jammu , Tribune, Tejinder Singh Sodhi, Nov 07, 2007)

Coalition governments have been celebrated as giving adequate representation to regional interests at the Centre, which is necessary in a diverse and multicultural country such as India. But recent remarks by Prime Minister Manmohan Singh highlight . . . (Coalition Blues, Times of India, Editorial, The Times of India, Nov 07, 2007)

“WORK for every hand, bread for every stomach, land for the landless, protection for small farmers and traders, change in the present economic policies.” (Rallying Forces For Land, Frontline, Purnima S. Tripathi, Nov 07, 2007)

WITH the Indian electorate repeatedly delivering fractured mandates in a number of States, and in Parliament, the phenomenon of hung legislatures, with the resultant dilemma of who should be invited to form the government, has long demanded . . . (Governor's Choice, Frontline, V. VENKATESAN, Nov 07, 2007)

What started off as a violent agitation against a rumour of land acquisition in Nandigram block in West Bengal’s East Midnapore (Purba Medinipur) district 10 months ago has, in fact, taken the form of a struggle for turf control between the . . . . (Fanning The Flames In Nandigram, Frontline, SUHRID SANKAR CHATTOPADHYAY, Nov 07, 2007)

The latest issue of People’s Democracy has an editorial on the Gujarat riots in the wake of Tehelka’s sting operation. (No Closure, Indian Express, Correspondent or Reporter, Nov 07, 2007)

IF politics proceeds on its promised course, there is likely to be a considerable rearrangement in the distribution of power among different political groups. (Punjab And The National Economy, Dawn, Shahid Javed Burki, Nov 06, 2007)

There are four main aspects to the China-Tibet-India problem over the last century, some of which are only now becoming apparent. (China’S India Aggression, Statesman, Correspondent or Reporter, Nov 05, 2007)

The dead in this part of the state have to wait for long till they reach a final resting place because the arrangement for transportation of bodies from a premier medical institute of the state has been withheld in the files of the Planning Department. (Jammu Hospital Makes Dead ‘Wait’ , Tribune, Tejinder Singh Sodhi, Nov 05, 2007)

Bharatiya Janata Party spokesperson Ravi Shankar Prasad on Friday criticised the Cabinet for not taking a decision on revoking President’s Rule. (Why Delay In Karnataka, Asks Bjp, Hindu, Correspondent or Reporter, Nov 03, 2007)

The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) on Friday criticised the Central Government for delaying the formation of a BJP-led government in Karnataka. (K'taka Political Crisis: Bjp Flays Centre , New Indian Express, Correspondent or Reporter, Nov 03, 2007)

The fact that there were barely 16 working days in October ~ with a state employees’ strike coinciding with the 12+12 mode of disruption ~ may have turned out to be a mite too embarrassing for the West Bengal government. (Edits, Statesman, Editorial, Statesman, Nov 03, 2007)

Prime Minister's abiding image is that of a leader with no strength or fixed ideology - jettisoning economic reforms one day and embracing land reforms another (Pm Dons Left Avatar , Pioneer, Anuradha Dutt, Nov 02, 2007)

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