-The Times of India Jharkhand not only fared as the state with the highest incidence of Naxal violence in the first quarter of this year, but it also further consolidated its lead over Chhattisgarh with twice the incidents and thrice the deaths reported by the latter. According to the latest statistics of Red terror compiled by the Union home ministry, Chhattisgarh, Jharkhand and Bihar together account for over 80% of Left-wing extremist...

-The Indian Express   A report prepared by West Bengal Police on political violence in the aftermath of the April 9 heckling of Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee by SFI supporters in Delhi said as many as 149 CPM party offices were ransacked and damaged by "Trinamool Congress supporters and followers". The report was submitted to the Home Department, which is headed by Banerjee, last week. The report refutes claims made by Trinamool Congress ministers...

-PTI Kolkata/ Siliguri: In a controversial incident, a leader of Communist Party of India (Marxist) student wing who was arrested after a clash with ruling Trinamool Congress activists was chained to his bed at a state-run hospital in judicial custody. The first-year student, Santosh Sahani, a member of the Students Federation of India, was arrested on April 10 after a clash between Trinamool Congress and Left supporters in Siliguri. The chain was later...

-The Indian Express On Monday, the Bengali new year's day, viewers who tuned into Bengali music channel Tara Muzik witnessed a spectacle never seen before on Indian TV. Anchors of the channel and independent artistes called in to present Barsha Baran, a programme to celebrate the new year 1420, wept copiously on camera while announcing that the channel, facing an unprecedented "crisis of survival", was shutting down. Hundreds of viewers commiserated with...

-The Times of India It is universally recognised that for ensuring people's participation in governance and holistic development, the best instrumentality is local government. So when Parliament passed the 73rd Constitution Amendment Bill on December 23, 1992 to enshrine the essential features of panchayats in the Constitution, this was hailed as historic. But where do our panchayats stand 20 years after becoming institutions of self-government? A big issue before the founders of...