-The Hindu When a political party puts up candidates with criminal charges, it results in the alienation of large sections of people from the political class and politics itself When the Election Commission of India turned 60 on January 25, 2010, The Hindu opened its lead editorial of January 29 with the words, “After overseeing 15 General Elections to the Lok Sabha, the ECI, in its diamond jubilee year, can with justifiable...

-PTI Calling the prevalence of paid news as "shocking and very disturbing", PCI chairperson Justice Markandey Katju said the information provided by the panel, appointed by him, only shows that self regulation by media was proving to be ineffective. There has been large-scale practice of ‘paid news’ in the Gujarat elections, a fact-finding team of the Press Council of India has claimed. Calling the prevalence of paid news as “shocking and very disturbing”,...

-The Indian Express How can an overwhelmingly young India be well served by its ageing political leaders? The UPA government has touted its cabinet reshuffle as a much-needed infusion of youth and vibrancy. While it is easy to get caught up in government talking points, the facts speak otherwise: as India’s population is getting younger, its political elites are bucking the trend. India is increasingly exhibiting all the hallmarks of a gerontocracy...

-Kafila.org Even though Hiamchal Pradesh voted on November 4, Gujarat has been hogging all the limelight. The election in Gujarat is only in the third week of December. Gujarat captures our political imagination as a ‘role model state’ whereas Hiamchal Pradesh is just in our tourism agenda as a top holiday destination. It is hard for anyone to notice Himachal as a political entity among the big brothers like Uttar Pradesh,...

-CNN-IBN Ghazipur: Semraul village in Uttar Pradesh's Ghazipur district is an example of how irresponsible the bureaucracy can be. The population of the village is 3,600 but on paper neither the village nor its inhabitants exist. Due to the negligence of government employees the population of the village on paper is zero. Village pradhan Sabhajit Singh Kushwaha is struggling to get this glaring error rectified. In this village there are more than...