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Drop case against Devyani: India
New Delhi, December 19
With the ugly stand-off between India and the US over inhuman treatment meted out to India’s Deputy Consul General in New York Devyani Khobragade continuing for a week now, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh is understood to have asked his key aides to ensure that the alleged visa fraud case against the diplomat is withdrawn.

Editorial: Immunity & entitlement

Kolkata Police detain a student during a march to the US Consulate in protest against the Indian diplomat’s arrest. PTI

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Enough courtesies extended to the diplomat: Bharara
The Punjab-born US attorney who alleged that Devyani Khobragade had broken US law by lying on a visa application for her maid whom she grossly underpaid, on Wednesday issued a firm statement in which he noted the stark contrast in the outrage in India over the diplomat’s arrest in New York with the silence over the mistreatment of her maid, who is also an Indian national.

Punjabi held in Nevada for ‘aiding’ Babbar Khalsa
Reno (Nevada), December 19
An Indian-American Sikh, Balwinder Singh, was arrested from his home in Nevada on Wednesday night for allegedly providing material support to terrorist groups in Punjab.

Centre seeks BC panel’s view on Jat quota
Commission told to give recommendation on their inclusion in Central OBC list
New Delhi, December 19
With the 2014 General Election round the corner, the government today asked the National Commission for Backward Classes (NCBC) to give its recommendation on including the Jat community in nine states, including Haryana and Himachal Pradesh, in the Central list of other backward classes (OBCs) for quota in Central government jobs and higher education, at the earliest.

After poll drubbing, Congress replaces Delhi, C’ garh chiefs
New Delhi, December 19
Eleven days after losing four state elections, the Congress today kicked off a major organisational reshuffle replacing the state chiefs of Delhi and Chhattisgarh, where it had to bite dust. In Rajasthan and Madhya Pradesh, which it lost to the BJP, the Congress is working to find suitable replacements of leadership in the Congress Legislature Party and at the Pradesh Congress Committee (PCC) level.

Gujarat to defreeze 52 Sikh farmers’ land
Chandigarh, December 19
The Narendra Modi Government has decided to defreeze the land of 52 Sikh farmers in the Kutch region, say sources. In all, the fate of 800 farmers from Punjab and Haryana settled in Kutch since 1965 has been in the balance after Gujarat froze their land ownership on technical grounds. The matter is in the Supreme Court.

Backdoor diplomacy bringing India, Pak closer: Aziz Islamabad, December 19 India-Pakistan relations have "greatly improved" and backdoor diplomacy is helping bring the two sides closer, said Sartaj Aziz, adviser to Pakistan’s Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif. Besides confidence-building measures, a "backdoor diplomacy channel was working to bring both the neighbours closer", Aziz was quoted as saying by The News daily. He further said there was no "more deterioration in relations and things had greatly improved".