-The Hindu For the first time in decades, the Maoists have encouraged calibrated polling in some areas, instead of fanatically implementing a policy to boycott the election The districts of Chhattisgarh partially controlled by Maoists - with 12 Assembly constituencies - voted overwhelmingly in 2013. Compared to 2008, voter turnout in 2013 increased by 9.67 percentage points in 12 constituencies, while the overall polling was 6.81 percentage points higher than in the...

-Down to Earth Thousands of people working under NREGS bring a 38 km stream back from the dead in Uttar Pradesh Thirty nine-year-old Ram Ishwar gave up farming to pull a rickshaw outside the railway station in Uttar Pradesh's Fatehpur town. He says scarcity of water and a resultant increase in the cost of irrigation rendered farming unprofitable. Wheat production from his 0.4 hectare (ha) farmland shrank from one tonne to half...

-The Times of India NEW DELHI: Launching a probe in a deal done during NDA regime, the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) has registered a preliminary enquiry against Vedanta Group chairman Anil Agarwal and unknown officials in connection with alleged irregularities in the disinvestment of Hindustan Zinc Ltd (HZL). Agency suspects that the loss caused to the exchequer due to the alleged irregularities runs into hundreds of crores of rupees due...

-The Hoot The drafting of the application should be such that it points towards the specific documents required in relation to the information sought. An extract from the section for information seekers in the 2013 guide. FOR INFORMATION SEEKERS Method of Seeking Information A citizen, who desires to obtain any information under the Act, should make an application to the Public Information Officer of the concerned public authority in writing in...

-The Hindu Unless a deeper, institutional change is ushered in to break the nexus between drug companies and the regulatory regime, Indians consuming drugs may be exposing themselves to serious risks Even before I walked into the Mayflower Hotel in the heart of Washington on a crisp autumn afternoon to meet Dinesh Thakur, whistle-blower and former director of India-based pharmaceutical giant Ranbaxy, I had a hunch that this conversation would spark some...