-The Hindu Property empire was built on soft loans handed out in unusual circumstances, documents show In February, as rumours of the ambitions of Congress president Sonia Gandhi’s son-in-law swirled amidst the heat and dust of the election campaign in Uttar Pradesh, her daughter Priyanka moved to scotch speculation about Robert Vadra’s possible political future. “He’s a successful businessman,” the younger Ms. Gandhi said of her husband, “who is not interested in changing...

-Outlook The Group of Minister (GoM) on Land Acquisition Bill today remained divided over the issue of retrospective acquisitions and the consent required from Land owners with Agriculture Minister Sharad Pawar saying two-three meetings are required to finalise the bill. During the last meeting too, the same issues had divided the members of the GoM headed by Pawar. "No final view on retrospective clause could happen. We have not taken any final call...

-The Times of India BHOPAL: The Lokayukta on Sunday raided the residence of a village school headmaster in Mandsaur and recovered undisclosed assets amounting to more than Rs 2.5 crore. The headmaster of the government middle school in Amlavad village, Ram Dayal Joshi (45), joined service in 1995. In 17 years since he became a school teacher, he amassed wealth including eight hectares of agricultural Land, a huge plot in Urban...

-The Indian Express Ten kilometres from Jodhpur city, on a sultry afternoon under a flapping tent, a baby girl is born to Sadhu and Radha. People crowd around and peer into the tent to congratulate the couple. Someone in the crowd says, “The first Indian among us, she should be named Bharati.” The suggestion is met with nods of approval and cheers of “Bharati”. Over the last one month, the makeshift tent...

-The Indian Express Rural Development Minister Jairam Ramesh has proposed to “live fence” graveyards, dargahs and eidgahs under MGNREGA to protect them. In a letter to National Commission for Minorities chief Wajahat Habibullah, who had requested that boundary walls around these places be built under the employment guarantee scheme, Ramesh suggested that they “be provided with live fencing under the Land Development and Plantation works category of MGNREGA for which provisions may...