-The Hindu Absolutely nothing wrong in funding the channels in a transparent way, says official Raipur: Raman Singh’s BJP government “has paid for favourable news stories” and “regular live coverage” to a host of national and local television channels, an English language newspaper reported. Furthermore, the senior editors of the channels concerned allegedly wrote to the public relations (PR) department of the Chhattisgarh government “negotiating” rates to produce “news stories” and to ensure...

-The Indian Express Patna: Out of 534 block development officers posted across Bihar, 181 or one-third are currently facing probe — mostly for alleged misuse and misappropriation of fund meant for the Indira Awas Yojana. In fact, 58 BDOs face corruption charges for their dubious role in the implementation of IAY. This was revealed in an RTI query by Buxur resident Shiv Prakash Rai, who had asked for a list of...

-DNA Gujarat government’s tall claim of providing employment to 65,000 youth under ‘Swami Vivekananda Youth Employment Week’ have been contradicted by its won reply to a RTI plea filed on issue. Jyoti Karmachari Mandal (JKM), the organisation that filed the plea seeking details of Rojgar Melas held in state, has accused the state government of manipulating figures to mislead people. They alleged that state government’s reply showed that beneficiaries were given employment letters...

-Pratirodh.com The streets of the obscure town of Pandharkawda in Yavatmal district of Maharashtra have come to life. Hundreds of villagers crowd them for the weekly haat to buy their supplies of vegetables, spices, pulses and tobacco, while farmers throng shops selling seeds, pesticides, manure and farm commodities. Dressed in bright cotton sarees, women haggle with vendors. Even doctors, especially dentists, are having a busy day with long queues of patients...

-IANS London: Carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions are projected to rise by 2.6 per cent by the end of 2012, reaching a record high of 35.6 billion tonnes, or 58 per cent above 1990 levels, the baseline year for the Kyoto Protocol, says a study. The findings of Global Carbon Project (GCP), co-led by researchers from the Tyndall Centre for Climate Change Research at the University of East Anglia (UEA), say the biggest...