-The Times of India Out of the candidates contesting in the first phase of state Assembly Elections in Uttar Pradesh, at least 38 percent have criminal cases registered against them, 51 percent are millionaires and only seven percent are women. Almost all major political parties have fielded candidates who have criminal cases registered against them. Samajwadi Party has 28 out of 55 (51 %), Bahujan Samaj Party 24 out of 55 (44...

-The Indian Express His vision for fighting corruption was a law that threatened to subvert every institution. Now Anna Hazare has couched his Republic Day appeal for yet another law in a woolly-headed — in fact, bizarre — rendition of Gandhianism. The urge for direct democracy that ran through his appeal for supreme power for gram sabhas is one that’s being increasingly iterated in various mobilisations for democratic reform. To this...

-IBN Manipur will on Saturday elect a new 60-member assembly to mark the start of make-or-break elections in five states. The staggered exercise, which ends with the vote in Goa and Uttar Pradesh on March 3, will be this year's first major test for political parties. Along with Uttarakhand and Punjab, a grand total of 137 million voters will be eligible to exercise their franchise in the five states. Earlier, campaigning for...

The Centre is irked by the lackadaisical attitude of Bengal, Gujarat, Karnataka and Goa in notifying rules under the Right to Education act even two years after its enforcement. The Union HRD ministry has decided to tick off the states for the delay in notifying the rules, key to implementing the RTE law that provides for free and compulsory education to children between six and 14 years. Kapil Sibal will next week...

Centre favours CBI inquiry into alleged misappropriation of funds With the Congress-led Union government favouring a CBI enquiry, in its affidavit before the Lucknow Bench of the Allahabad High Court, into embezzlement in Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme funds, trouble is apparently brewing for the BSP government under Chief Minister Mayawati, who is already bearing the brunt of the NHRM scam in poll-bound Uttar Pradesh. The Centre filed the affidavit...