-The Times of India NEW DELHI: Taking on the rampant money and muscle power in politics, a new political party, Nav Bharat Democratic Party, was launched on Thursday, promising clean candidates and transparent democracy. The party helmed by a motley group of professions, including a retired naval officer, entrepreneurs, lawyers and others, promised to provide an accountable government. The party will field candidates, including working professionals, entrepreneurs and veteran politicians, weaned away...

-The Indian Express   How Chhattisgarh became a sanctuary, and then a laboratory, for Naxals Some time ago, Chhattisgarh hit the headlines because of a Maoist attack on state Congress leaders, in which V.C. Shukla and Mahendra Karma died. Since then, the Congress has accused the BJP government of a conspiracy, and some BJP leaders have accused former chief minister Ajit Jogi of being part of a conspiracy himself. Politicising this tragic episode...

-The Hindu Dip in Congress' vote share from SCs, STs, Muslims - its traditional support base Cities are driving the anti-UPA sentiment, while marginalised communities - the Congress' traditional base - are more satisfied than dissatisfied with UPA-II's performance. These findings emerge from a CNN IBN-The Hindu-election tracker poll of 19,062 demographically representative respondents. Just 38 per cent of respondents expressed satisfaction with UPA-II's performance (with 22 per cent undecided), down from 49...

-The Telegraph   New Delhi: Two panels examining the education standards of SC/STs and OBCs have urged the Centre to enact a law to implement admission quotas for them at private institutions of study. The panels, set up by a national monitoring committee for education of SC/STs and persons with disabilities, have suggested that private higher study institutions must implement quotas of 15 per cent for SCs, 7.5 per cent for STs and...

-The Times of India NEW DELHI: The UPA is ready with facts and figures to counter Gujarat chief minister Narendra Modi's growth model when he comes to the Planning Commission to discuss the state's annual plan for 2013-14 on Tuesday. The UPA attack is expected to focus around claims that Modi's growth model is not inclusive as revealed by social indicators. This will be Modi's first official meeting at the Centre after his...