-The Times of India In a major setback to special economic zone (SEZ) developers, finance minister P Chidambaram has turned down the commerce department's plea to cut the minimum alternate tax (MAT), which was imposed two years ago. A lower or no tax burden was cited as one of the main drivers for boosting investment in what were until recently duty-free enclaves. The commerce department had made a case for reversing Chidambaram's...

-The Hindu   Karnataka tops in transgender voter registration Bangalore: A conscious effort to assert their status as the third gender seems to be growing in the transgender community in Karnataka if numbers are any indication. Karnataka - at 2,125 - has more number of voters registered as ‘others' compared to any other State in the Assembly elections held after 2009. Voters and candidates are enumerated under the categories of ‘male', ‘female' and...

-The Indian Express Kolkata: West Bengal's Notification for the panchayat elections marks a flash point in an ongoing tussle between the Mamata Banerjee government and the state election commission. The government Notification, issued last week independently of the election authorities, has declared polls in two phases, on April 26 and 30. The election commission, headed by Meera Pandey, has been insisting on three phases. On Monday, the commission wrote to the government...

-The Business Standard Defying the Election Committee's suggestion last week, the state announced a two-phase election to be held in April The tug-of-war between the West Bengal government and State Election Commission over Panchayat poll schedule may head for a legal battle, with both sides showing no sign of compromise. After a three-hour long meeting at its office here, the state election commission today refused to accept government-announced panchayat poll dates and sent...

-The Hindustan Times Angry that unaided minority schools have been exempt from the Right to Education (RTE) Act, the Forum for Fairness in Education (FFIE) plans to file a public interest litigation (PIL) in the Bombay high court. FFIE is challenging a Notification exempting schools from reserving seats for children from economically weak families. The latest RTE Notification, uploaded on a government website on March 20, said unaided minority schools will not...