-Live Mint Cabinet clears proposal to give loans at 7% interest rate, and 4% if SHGs  repay loans within the stipulated period The federal cabinet has cleared a proposal to give loans to women self-help groups (SHGs) at 7% interest rate, cheaper than the existing 11.5-14%, bringing the cost of loans on a par with those given to farmers. SHGs that repay loans within the stipulated period will be eligible for loans at...

Statesman News Service KOLKATA: The whole perception of the state government about availability of security forces is unreliable, State Election Commission counsel Samaraditya Pal submitted before Mr Justice Biswanath Somaddar of Calcutta High Court on the last day of the hearing of the challenge to some provisions of the West Bengal Panchayat Election Act today. The judgment of the case will be delivered expeditiously, Mr Justice Somaddar said. Earlier, citing...

-The Times of India NEW DELHI: In a major boost to transparency in school admissions, the Delhi high court has ruled that private unaided schools in the capital will be covered under the RTI Act. Justice Rajiv Shakdher on Thursday dismissed the challenge by a federation of schools to Central Information Commission (CIC) order asking them to ensure that information regarding admission is made public. HC upheld the order asking schools...

-Frontline   But in Modi's Gujarat the difference between development and darkness is all too visible to those who care to see. NARENDRA MODI may have won three consecutive elections and ruled Gujarat for more than a decade after he was posted there almost as a night watchman, to borrow a cricketing expression. He may have mobilised a massive fan following that is shouting to catapult him into the Prime Minister's post,...

-PTI A Parliamentary committee has approved a bill which seeks to give limited powers to the Election Commission to determine change in nomenclature of a parliamentary or assembly seat where a caste has been included or excluded from the SC/ST list in the last one decade. The Readjustment of Representation of Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes in Parliamentary and Assembly Constituencies Bill, 2013 was referred to the Standing Committee on Law...