-The Times of India CHANDIGARH: After fixing minimum educational qualification of Class X for candidates contesting panchayat polls, Haryana will now make class XII mandatory for aspirants to urban local body elections. The Supreme Court on December 10 had upheld Haryana government's earlier decision to mandate class X for panchayat polls, saying illiterates can be barred from contesting. The Haryana advocate general's office has suggested that qualification for people contesting various municipal...

-The Telegraph Bhubaneswar: Chief minister Naveen Patnaik today launched a housing scheme for slum dwellers in the city, ahead of the Civic Polls here in December. The project will be developed under the Centre's Rajiv Awas Yojana scheme and predictably, the BJD leaders present at the event chose to remain silent on this. One housing project was launched at Mahishakhala behind BJB College at a cost of Rs 46.93 crore, while another was...

-The Telegraph Kolkata: The Mamata Banerjee government has decided to return nearly 10,000 acres from its land bank to 30,000-odd original owners by the end of the year with an eye on electoral gains, officials said. No one in the government would go on record but The Telegraph has seen a land and land reforms department order, sent to the departments holding the plots and the district authorities, to start the land-return...

-The Economic Times PATNA: Reserving 33% seats for women in Parliament and state legislatures may remain a dream for Congress president Sonia Gandhi but chief minister Nitish Kumar has not only done that in panchayat bodies of Bihar but is set to take the concept to other areas. Women's support for JD(U) had swelled in elections following the reservations, as the fair sex exhibited approval for the progressive legislation. Encouraged by 'lady...

-The Indian Express Firebrand leader who rose swiftly till downfall She rose swiftly through the ranks, having made her mark as a firebrand leader who had saffron politics as part of her legacy. Mayaben Surendrabhai Kodnani, convicted of murder, conspiracy and spreading communal hatred, is the daughter of a staunch RSS worker who had suffered the pains of Partition, moving from Tharparkar in Sind province to Deesa in Gujarat. Kodnani, the first sitting...