-NDTV Kolkata: The Calcutta High Court will today hear two Public Interest Litigations or PILs demanding a Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) investigation into the Saradha chit fund scam that has wiped out the savings of lakhs of small investors. One of the petitions was filed by a lawyer last week and the court had asked the West Bengal government to file an affidavit by Thursday which it has done. The Mamata Banerjee...

-Live Mint Lack of decentralization means municipalities lack power, resources to meet rising aspirations of ‘middle' India Othakadai, Madurai (Tamil Nadu)/Hubli (Karnataka): S. Paramasivam , president of the Othakadai panchayat, has big plans for his area. "Rainwater harvesting, removal of encroachments on roads, waste recycling, covered drainage, bigger primary health care centres and community parks," lists the 58-year-old, who has spent 30 years in the stainless steel business that dominates industry...

-The Times of India NAGPUR: President Pranab Mukherjee on Monday slammed multinational companies saying they only looked for oversees locations with an intention to dodge Taxes, raising eyebrows at a time when the country is desperately wooing foreign capital to plug a widening current account deficit. Addressing a function at the National Academy of Direct Taxes (NADT), Mukherjee said more than three-fourths of business transactions nowadays took place through the units of...

-The Times of India A year after the UPA presented a white paper on black money in Parliament, spelling out strategy to curb generation of illicit money and preventing its offshore flight, one of the most potent weapons created to tackle the menace and bring offenders to book - theincome tax department's Directorate of Criminal Investigation (DCI) - stands dismantled and powerless. The last search-and-survey operation, better known as I-T raids,...

-Live Mint   Panchayati raj minister V. Kishore Chandra Deo on how the system can function more effectively With the amendments that effected mandatory constitutional powers to panchayats and urban local bodies marking 20 years, V. Kishore Chandra Deo, Union minister for panchayati raj, acknowledged in an interview that the units of local self-governance could function more effectively. He also suggested that the three-tier system of panchayats could be improved to meet challenges...