-The Times of India NEW DELHI: At the halfway mark, the Monsoon shows no signs of flagging and, on current projections, is set to cross 100% of its long period average, promising to relieve a stressed economy and ease the Manmohan Singh government's political burden. A bountiful Monsoon is likely to benefit the kharif crop despite some hiccups in east India and the government is anticipating record rice production with the area...

-The Times of India BHOPAL: Residents of Karadia village in Sehore district dread Monsoon- because heavy rain maroons the village and in absence of road connectivity it remains cut off from the mainland. Efforts by villagers to apprise local administration and elected representatives about the problem have failed to yield positive results. Like inhabitants of 7,000 villages that have no connectivity with mainland, villagers in Karadia wake up with a prayer- no...

-The Times of India NEW DELHI: Political parties banded together to strongly oppose the recent Supreme Court order that legislators be immediately disqualified on conviction and called on the government to take measures to undo the ruling. The all-party meeting ahead of the Monsoon session on Thursday saw political parties in one voice protesting the "erosion" of Parliament's supremacy in law-making with leaders claiming the SC order is an assault on their...

-The Hindu Consensus among most parties that CIC has exceeded its jurisdiction The Union Cabinet has approved draft amendments to the Right To Information Act (RTI) that would nullify an order of the Central Information Commission (CIC) bringing the six national political parties under the orbit of the Act. The draft amendments to the RTI are expected to be moved in the Monsoon session of Parliament beginning on August 5 and voted upon...

-The Times of India Almost 57 years after it was carved out by merging Telugu-speaking areas and cutting out Marathi and Kannada speaking areas, Andhra Pradesh is now on the carving board again - the Telangana region will now be partitioned off into a new state, induced by a long-standing agitation, but delivered by the political expediency of the Congress. Whatever be the complex electoral implications of this, the real question is...