-The Hindustan Times Chandigarh: Ecological issues have delayed the start of river-bed mining, an idea propagated by Punjab deputy chief minister Sukhbir Singh Badal with the aim of extracting enough Sand not only to meet the growing demand but also to control its skyrocketing rates in the market. The plan may not be implemented immediately as the proposed quarries would require clearance from the state environment impact assessment authority. Also, environmentalists fear...

-The Hindu Political parties are ‘deeply concerned' and even ‘outraged' at the Supreme Court verdict that any person in custody - whether convicted or not - could not contest elections. Even as they had apprehensions, politicians had ‘cautiously welcomed' the verdict, which disqualified convicted lawmakers from holding office or contesting polls. But the judgment barring those imprisoned from fighting polls has opened up prospects of a confrontation between the judiciary and the...

-The Economic Times NEW DELHI: Its image pockmarked by a succession of corruption scandals involving the government, Congress has quietly launched a beauty parade of advertising agencies to pick the ones that will buff it up for the upcoming election season. Its single-point brief to the agencies: to play down corruption and hard sell its welfare credentials. Leaders in the Grand Old Party, which, according to insiders, has readied a war chest...

-Live Mint Fast clearance of river projects and the lack of disaster preparedness have wreaked havoc in Uttarakhand Relief operations in disaster-ravaged Uttarakhand have ended and the time seems ripe to take account of the institutional frailties that have contributed to the ongoing human disaster in the state. Chief minister Vijay Bahuguna has been blamed for inaction when the disaster first struck and has also admitted that the state did not...

-The Times of India MENDHARI (GADCHIROLI): The picturesque little hamlet of Mendhari, around 90-km from Gadchiroli town, was considered by the Naxalites as a safe haven. The tranquillity here had remained undisputed until Sunday when, for the first time, the villagers witnessed a lopsided bloodbath in which six women rebels were killed in police firing. The villagers, who claimed to have been thrashed by the C-60 commandos too, told TOI that four...