-Khaleej Times Online   Maoists have stepped up their campaign against the proposed bauxite mining in north coastal Andhra Pradesh, with the extremists asking lawmakers to pass a resolution in the state Legislative Assembly pledging not to take up mining in the tribal areas. The outlawed outfit, CPI (Maoist), put up banners and posters and distributed pamphlets in several villages in Visakhapatnam district warning of serious consequences if the legislators went ahead with...

Has the explosion of media in India been a mixed blessing? With more than 70,000 newspapers and over 500 satellite channels in several languages, Indians are seemingly spoilt for choice and diversity. India is already the biggest newspaper market in the world - over 100 million copies sold each day. Advertising revenues have soared. In the past two decades, the number of channels has grown from one - the dowdy state-owned broadcaster...

-BBC   India's election authorities have put on hold a government decision to reserve a proportion of government jobs and seats in state-run education centres for minority groups. The quota - of 4.5% of jobs and seats - has been suspended until elections are held in five states next month. Critics say the Congress party announced the quota to woo Muslim minorities in the upcoming polls. Opposition parties had complained about the move. They accused the...

-PTI Indian bureaucracy is the worst in Asia with a 9.21 rating out of 10, according to a report by a prestigious consulting firm based in Singapore. India fared worst than Vietnam (rated at 8.54), Indonesia (8.37), Philippines (7.57) and China (7.11), said the report released today by   Hong Kong-based Political & Economic Risk Consultancy Ltd. Singapore remained the best with a rating of 2.25, followed by Hong Kong (3.53), Thailand (5.25) Taiwan...

-The Hindustan Times   The Union government has asked the Andaman and Nicobar authorities to file a report on the incident of Jarawa women dancing for food.  A video of Jarawa women— a tribal group inhabiting the islands—allegedly dancing for food was released by The Observer, a London-based newspaper, along with a report. The video enraged both rights activists and the authorities.  Even though the authorities say the video, which is doing rounds...