-The Financial Express West Bengal, Assam and Tamil Nadu — states that are currently in assembly elections mode — have registered huge spurt in job numbers under the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Generation Act (MGNREGA). West Bengal, where the Trinamool Congress under Mamata Banerjee is fighting to retain power, saw a record 28.66 crore person-days of employment being generated under MGNREGA during the year ended March 31, 2016. This represented a...

-The Hindu Stand-up India will help create 2.5 lakh entrepreneurs. Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Tuesday unveiled the ‘Stand-up India’ scheme to promote entrepreneurship among women, scheduled castes and tribes by enabling them secure easier loans and said this could be an engine of job creation for the youth. “Dalits and poor people, if given an opportunity, can bring in various reforms in the country. That’s my vision for Stand-up India…This scheme is...

-The Times of India Chandigarh: Months after making the educational qualification mandatory for candidates contesting panchayat elections, Haryana on Wednesday imposed a condition that municipal polls candidates must also be Class X pass. There was huge hue and cry when the education clause was imposed for panchayat polls, with the Supreme Court finally upholding the law. However, the Bill making educational qualification necessary for municipal polls was passed without any opposition. To make...

-The Hindu The Election Commission met representatives from national and regional parties on Saturday. The Election Commission met representatives from national and regional parties here on Saturday to discuss a range of issues ranging from the need to maintain a high level of conduct in election speeches to that of protecting the secrecy of how votes are cast at a particular booth. “Hate speeches” and personalised attacks in poll campaigns came up for...

-The Telegraph Arun Jaitley today drew loud cheers from the fiscal conservatives as he displayed "prudence" and stuck to the fiscal deficit - which captures the government's borrowing requirements - target of 3.9 per cent of the GDP for 2015-16 and pegged it at 3.5 per cent of the GDP for 2016-17. As the achievement came despite all the problems that the Indian economy faced - the Economic Survey presented details of...