The growing clout of the khap panchayats in Haryana can be gauged from the fact that Baljit Singh Malik, chief of Gathwala khap and three other khaps, has demanded the Hindu Marriage Act (HMA) be amended to prevent marriages within the parent gotras.

May 11: China has now become a taboo word for a clearly defensive minister of environment and forests (MoEF) Jairam Ramesh.
“I am not going to speak a single word on China,” a visibly chastened Mr Ramesh told journalists as he entered the Ashoka Hotel banquet hall to release a report on India’s Greenhouse Gas Emission 2007.