-Outlook The state elections rolled out smoothly, but it's money power which ruled on the ground As we celebrate the smooth working of a massive electoral exercise-simplistically dubbed by many as the semi-final to the greatest show on earth, General Elections 2014-a realisation has dawned that the role of ‘money power' is reaching alarming proportions. Sure, elections are more fool-proof today than in the past, and most (rightly) salute the EC...

-The Hindu The Chinese government is also likely to considering locations in Gujarat, Maharashtra and Tamil Nadu for industrial parks Beijing: Haryana has made available thousands of acres of land for purchase by Chinese companies, State government officials told potential investors here on Wednesday, in an effort to court investment into newly planned industrial bases. Haryana officials told The Hindu that the China Development Bank (CDB) - the powerful State-run bank that is...

-The Times of India CHENNAI: Thirteen-year-old Ramesh, a Class 8 student, ran away from his home in Tamil Nadu's Villupuram district after his mother died. "My father used to beat me often. Unable to bear the torture, I ran away and reached Chennai at midnight and stayed on pavements for a while," said Ramesh (name changed). Later, an activist took him to an orphanage in Chennai. But not many are as...

-Governance Now Data on ‘missing' or ‘dead' toilets - that is, toilets that exist on paper but not in reality - is a wake-up call for policymakers, says study 3,75,76,324 is the number of missing toilets in rural and urban India, according to a report collated by the Right to Sanitation Campaign based on government figures in the report titled ‘In Deep Shit'. What is a ‘missing toilet'? As the phrase suggests, it is...

-The Indian Express Lucknow: Local clerics in nearly 30 Muslim dominated villages in Sambhal district have given a call from mosques to boycott the polio immunisation drive to pressure the government into making their villages part of Moradabad district. The clerics have also told villagers to stop sending their children to school, forbidden them from attending political rallies, and banned the entry of politicians into the villages. Any family that disobeys will be...