-The Economic Times The EC is set to ask that the expenditure incurred towards this ‘advertising’ portal be reflected in BJP’s annual audit and expenditure reports. New Delhi: The Election Commission has ruled that NaMo TV, BJP’s purported ‘advertising portal’ carried by DTH operators, should be subjected to content certification regime, like all other political advertisements during the model code period. ET has learnt that the poll panel has written to the Delhi...

-The Hindu Rayalaseema districts descending into the grip of drought Vijayawada: With about two months to go for the onset of monsoon, the water has hit rock bottom in the reservoirs and the ground water position in the State, particularly the drought-prone Rayalaseema districts is precariously low. While the water level in Srisailam project is dangerously low (813.6 feet against the full reservoir level of 885 feet) having only 36.45 tmcft of water,...

-The Indian Express An urban employment guarantee programme is an idea whose time has come. Temperatures are rapidly warming up in what promises to be a blistering summer of India’s electioneering. Amidst the belligerent grandstanding on national security and the communal messaging barely below the surface, Rahul Gandhi’s announcement of a minimum income guarantee scheme came as a relief, if only because it tried to steer the public discussions to the...

-The Hindu No laws mandating disposal; volume estimated at 1.8 million tonnes by 2050 By 2050, India will likely stare at a pile of a new category of electronic waste, namely solar e-waste, says a study made public on Thursday. Currently, India’s e-waste rules have no laws mandating solar cell manufacturers to recycle or dispose waste from this sector. “India’s PV (photovoltaic) waste volume is estimated to grow to 200,000 tonnes by 2030...

-The Hindu Guwahati: Kishorechandra Wangkhem, the 39-year-old television anchor who was freed on Wednesday after four months in prison on charges of sedition under NSA, said he would continue to fight for freedom of speech. He also said that he would do his bit towards getting another “draconian piece of law” — the Armed Forces (Special Powers) Act of 1958 — scrapped. “NSA and AFSPA are draconian laws not suitable for a...