-The Hindu Kolkata: In a setback to the Mamata Banerjee government, the Calcutta High Court on Friday directed that panchayat polls in 17 districts be held in three phases with the government fully compensating the shortfall in security forces to the satisfaction of the State Election Commission. Justice Biswanath Somadder rejected the government's arguments on all the contentious issues in its writ petition and directed that it inform the Commission of...

-The Indian Express Saradha group CMD Sudipta Sen and executive director Debjani Mukherjee were questioned together for the first time by police today. Sen broke down in front of the interrogators when Mukherjee blamed him for the company going bust, police sources said. Mukherjee, who has been "cooperating" with the police since she was arrested, is likely to become an approver. Officials earlier said that Mukherjee could become approver only after the police...

-The Indian Express The Congress's bill could end up sponsoring the NDA's campaigns A good thing about the logjam in Parliament, it has to be said, is that it has prevented the ill-advised food security bill from being passed. It would, though, be naive on our part to presume the BJP stalled Parliament - the Congress's blatant abuse of the CBI process was a big reason for this - only because it...

-NDTV Kolkata: The Calcutta High Court will today hear two Public Interest Litigations or PILs demanding a Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) investigation into the Saradha chit fund scam that has wiped out the savings of lakhs of small investors. One of the petitions was filed by a lawyer last week and the court had asked the West Bengal government to file an affidavit by Thursday which it has done. The Mamata Banerjee...

-Live Mint Lack of decentralization means municipalities lack power, resources to meet rising aspirations of ‘middle' India Othakadai, Madurai (Tamil Nadu)/Hubli (Karnataka): S. Paramasivam , president of the Othakadai panchayat, has big plans for his area. "Rainwater harvesting, removal of encroachments on roads, waste recycling, covered drainage, bigger primary health care centres and community parks," lists the 58-year-old, who has spent 30 years in the stainless steel business that dominates industry...