-The Hindu No qualified candidates to contest; seven posts fall vacant Jaipur: The impact of the amended Rajasthan Panchayati Raj Act, 1994 to include minimum educational qualification as an eligibility criteria for contesting the Panchayat elections, is now becoming visible with reports of posts going vacant pouring in from across the State. Worse, the Sikar police have arrested a gang of people who have reportedly sold fake marks sheets and Transfer Certificates to...

-The Telegraph New Delhi: The Central Information Commission (CIC) has been headless for the past five months, spawning an unprecedented backlog of applications and fears the delay could sound the "death knell" for transparency. Over 200 people - other commission members and retired bureaucrats - are vying to become the chief information commissioner, according to activist Lokesh Batra who had filed a plea on the matter under the Right to Information Act...

-The Hindustan Times Bhopal: Madhya Pradesh is the worst place to be born in India - and it has been so for more than a decade. For 11th year in a row, the state has registered the highest infant mortality rate in the country, says the latest Sample Registration System report for 2013 released on Sunday by the Registrar General and Census Commissioner of India. Infant mortality rate is the number of deaths...

-The Business Standard Ministers in the Narendra Modi government have been busy making presentations on their 100 days of work. But what these presentations do not mention is that decisions by ministers have been few, with plenty of papers and files moving to the Prime Minister's Office (PMO), which is increasingly emerging as a centralised clearance point, even for routine and ordinary issues. Though policy paralysis was a term used freely...

-The Hindu The right to good healthcare must be addressed using modern technology, innovative approaches and by involving tribals in developing solutions for their problems In his address to the nation on Independence Day, Prime Minister Narendra Modi spoke about inclusive development, with food security, safe housing and sanitation being the rights of every citizen. Health is intimately linked to these essentials of living. The health status of India's tribal communities is...