-The Indian Express Fifteen-year-old Altaf Hussain crouches effortlessly and heads into what looks like a black hole. Dragging a large wooden cart behind him, he disappears into the gaping darkness within seconds. After what seems like an endless wait but lasts just half an hour, he emerges from the hole with a cart laden with dark, glittering coal. The head of this group of 30 is Abu Kalam Mia. The 27-year-old ‘sardar’,...

-The Times of India In a recent election rally, Gujarat chief minister Narendra Modi advised Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, one of the country's top economists, to follow the Gujarat model of development , to cure the country of its ills. "Mr Prime Minister, if you try to follow the path of Gujarat state, the condition of the country will be transformed." Modi, who is projecting himself as the champion of economic...

-The Times of India Within hours of raising cooking gas prices, the government late on Thursday asked oil marketing companies to put on hold the Rs 26.50 hike, calling into question the seriousness of the deregulation plan and casting a doubt over the UPA's commitment to fiscal reforms. The U-turn came after a volley of protests by the opposition and days before Himachal Pradesh goes to polls, with Gujarat elections to follow....

-Live Mint All file notings can be made public now except those explicitly exempted  The Union cabinet on Thursday decided to withdraw controversial draft amendments to the Right to Information (RTI) Act that sought to restrict disclosure of government file notings. The move allayed the concerns of rights activists. The draft amendments would have restricted disclosure of file notings only to social and developmental issues. The government had to drop the move following...

-Pratirodh.com The fanfare with which Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and Congress president Sonia Gandhi launched a service delivery scheme in Rajasthan based on the Aadhaar (foundation) unique identity (UID), and celebrated the issue of the first Aadhaar number topping the 200-million mark, should make the Indian National Congress a very worried party indeed—assuming it has a good survival instinct and basic grasp of practical politics.    To put it starkly, the Congress and...