-Outlook The Centre today told the Supreme Court that there has been large-scale violation in MNREGA implementation in Uttar Pradesh for which CBI probe has been sought by an NGO. Additional Solicitor General Indira Jaising told a bench comprising Chief Justice P Sathasivam and Justice Ranjana Prakash Desai that details of the violation have been documented in the affidavit filed by the Centre. The ASG said the money which is released from the...

-Frontline The midday meal scheme is a grand idea in a flawed school system. "THEY played here, studied here and got buried here!" (Yahin khela, yahin padha aur yahin ho gaya dafan). With these emphatic words, grieving parents buried the bodies of two children within the compound of the Dharmasati Gandaman Primary School of Masharakh block in Saran district of Bihar. This sentiment was expressed with great dignity even in the...

-The Telegraph New Delhi: A Union government panel has found evidence of rampant illegal mining along the Yamuna in Gautam Budh Nagar in Uttar Pradesh where the suspension of an IAS officer who had cracked down on the sand mafia has snowballed into a political controversy. A three-member panel set up by the environment ministry said there has been "rampant, unscientific and illegal mining" at several sites along the river in violation...

-The Telegraph New Delhi: The Centre has modified the norms of an education scheme to allow partial funding of state government-aided secondary schools in a move that could benefit Bengal the most. Funds under the Rashtriya Madhyamik Shiksha Abhiyan (RMSA) have so far been limited solely to government-run institutions. The four-year-old scheme provides grants to set up schools, improve facilities in existing ones and recruit teachers. Most secondary schools in Bengal are aided institutions,...

-The Times of India NEW DELHI: Taking on the rampant money and muscle power in politics, a new political party, Nav Bharat Democratic Party, was launched on Thursday, promising clean candidates and transparent democracy. The party helmed by a motley group of professions, including a retired naval officer, entrepreneurs, lawyers and others, promised to provide an accountable government. The party will field candidates, including working professionals, entrepreneurs and veteran politicians, weaned away...