-Express India Lucknow: An RTI activist, who was also the headmaster in a government primary school, was shot dead by unidentified men in Mohammadabad police station area of Farrukhabad district on Thursday. The victim, Anand Prakash Rajput (42), had used RTI to get information which he used to get three teachers dismissed from service for getting jobs on the basis of forged documents and the process of dismissal of three other teachers...

-The Indian Express Patna: Upset over frequent reports of tension and clash between students belonging to different castes, the Bihar government plans to dismantle its SC/ ST, OBC and minority hostels in a phased manner. On January 29, more than 25 students of the Saidpur hostel under Patna University attacked students of Bhimrao Ambedkar Welfare hostel. The clash resulted in three students getting injured. The Welfare hostel, run by the SC/ST Welfare...

-The Hindu BJP-leaning candidate held for testing voters’ loyalty To prove that they had voted for a candidate who lost the gram panchayat elections, 100 people were allegedly forced by him and his campaign manager to put their hands in boiling oil in north Gujarat’s Sabarkantha district on Tuesday night. Though the gram panchayat elections were not fought on party symbols, the candidate, Dinesh Parmar of Deria village in Bayad taluk, 40 km...

-The Hindu Hearing of proposed 100-MW thermal power plant of KPR Industries postponed after stones thrown at dais Balabhadrapuram (East Godavari): The public hearing on the proposed 100 MW thermal power plant of KPR Industries (India) Limited on Wednesday between Dontamuru of Rangampeta mandal and Balabhadrapuram of Bikkavolu mandal in East Godavari district was disrupted by villagers and some ‘outsiders’. A total of 40 persons, including four policemen, were injured in lathi-charge and...

The Ministry of Environment and Forests (MOEF) has been the target of criticism from industry groups to the Prime Minister for allegedly holding up infrastructure and industrial development through its system of green clearances. But a recent analysis of 5 years of decision-making put out by an environmental group suggests why these attacks might be misplaced, given the ease with which every single of 262 proposed hydropower and irrigation projects...