Janardhana Reddy insists he is not a king. No, no, no, he protested, as a servant trotted across the courtyard to deliver a cup of cooled water. Men with machine guns stood outside. An architect waited to discuss the new mansion, while another man hovered nearby, sitting in the grass. “He’s the state minister of health,” Mr. Reddy said of the man in the grass, who stood up, made a little...

Members across the political spectrum expressed concern in the Rajya Sabha on Thursday over attempts by the Press Council of India to “suppress vital information” on “paid news,” and demanded that the government intervene and make public the report of the PCI sub-committee. Raising the issue during zero hour, Communist Party of India (Marxist) Brinda Karat said the 72-page report was not being made public, and the names of big media...

It is potentially a game-changer so far as rules of media reporting are concerned. The Supreme Court on Monday virtually slapped a ban on source-based news stories in matters under investigation, in an order which can alter the journalism landscape. The provocation for the severe order, already being seen as a gag order, was violation of the apex court's two-year-old ruling asking newspapers and TV channels to exercise restraint in...

JHABUA, India — Inside the drab district hospital, where dogs patter down the corridors, sniffing for food, Ratan Bhuria’s children are curled together in the malnutrition ward, hovering at the edge of starvation. His daughter, Nani, is 4 and weighs 20 pounds. His son, Jogdiya, is 2 and weighs only eight. Landless and illiterate, drowned by debt, Mr. Bhuria and his ailing children have staggered into the hospital ward after falling...

The original report on ‘paid news' of the Press Council of India sub-committee is relegated to the archive. Then too, it does not even appear on the PCI's website. Presented with a chance to make history, the Press Council of India has made a mess instead. The PCI has simply buckled at the knees before the challenge of “Paid News.” Its decision of July 30 to sideline its own sub-committee's report...