-Live Mint Lack of decentralization means municipalities lack power, resources to meet rising aspirations of ‘middle' India Othakadai, Madurai (Tamil Nadu)/Hubli (Karnataka): S. Paramasivam , president of the Othakadai panchayat, has big plans for his area. "Rainwater harvesting, removal of encroachments on roads, waste recycling, covered drainage, bigger primary health care centres and community parks," lists the 58-year-old, who has spent 30 years in the stainless steel business that dominates industry...

-The Telegraph Calcutta: Mamata Banerjee's zeal for a new anti-fraud bill could delay action against Saradha for months but has only a few differences with the old Left-sponsored bill her government has withdrawn, officials said today. "Except for three provisions and a few other minor changes, the language of the two bills is identical," a law department official said. A senior Writers' bureaucrat said the legislative steps that the new bill must...

-DNA Tribal minister shoots letter to 9 guvs seeking cancellation of leases. Union tribal affairs minister V Kishore Chandra Deo has asked governors of nine states to invoke their special powers to revoke lease agreements and MoUs signed between state governments and corporates to extract mineral wealth in tribal areas. Pointing out that power lobbies were disregarding land regulations, he castigated the Congress-ruled Andhra Pradesh government. The union minister, who is also...

-The Hindu The Election Commission on Wednesday said that paid news was a very "complex problem" and it had taken the issue seriously to ensure a level-playing field to all political parties and candidates in the elections to the Legislative Assembly on May 5. Addressing a media workshop on electoral process here, Director-General at the Election Commission, Akshay Rout, said: "Paid news is a complex issue and it had disturbed the political...

-The Indian Express The CAG (Comptroller and Auditor General) has slammed the Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi's government for causing a loss to the exchequer to the tune of Rs 17,000 cr. In its report for 2009-10 and 2010-11, placed before the Gujarat Legislative Assembly, CAG said corruption and irregularities have caused huge losses to the state. CAG blasted the Narendra Modi government for not being able to stop these irregularities. Narendra Modi has...