-The Times of India NEW DELHI: Rising apprehension that food inflation may finally begin to bite in electoral terms has seen the Manmohan Singh government press the panic button as retail prices of cereals, vegetables and pulses soar in comparison to last year. Persistent high inflation, particularly in food, is gnawing the government ahead of assembly polls in four major states later this year and the 2014 Lok Sabha election, a concern...

-The Economic Times NEW DELHI: Bihar chief minister Nitish Kumar is leveraging his politically 'unattached' status to seek higher wages for his people under the Centre's rural employment guarantee scheme. Kumar, being wooed by the Congress after he parted ways with the BJP, has written to Prime Minister Manmohan Singh saying that the state plans to raise NREGA payments to align them with the statutory minimum wage. "Notification of lower wage rates...

-Rediff.com Let us recount some facts to understand the circumstances that led to the death of 23 children at a primary school at Gandaman, Chapra . First, some micro-facts : The primary school struck by the tragedy is a NAV SRJIT VIDYALAYA, a newly created school. In fact, it is a break away from an earlier existing middle school in the village. This school, if you care...

-The Hindu Boards are understaffed, have little time for meetings, inspection or regulation, says study Mumbai: Environmental protection seems to be in shaky hands with political appointees nominated to head state pollution control boards (SPCB) in some places. In one case, the educational qualification of the chairperson was tenth standard. In Karnataka, for instance, the chairperson of the SPCB is Vaman Acharya, a senior BJP leader. In Himachal Pradesh, it is Kuldip Singh...

-The Hindu For a scheme that the Central government has declared an essential arm of its educational and nutritional objectives in the last three days, both the Central and the State governments have shown a remarkable lack of concern for the 27 lakh workers, most of them women, who administer it. The tragedy that killed 23 children in Bihar's Chapra village last Tuesday has shone a rare spotlight on India's mid-day meal...