-The Times of India  The paradox of a champion of social justice being booked under the caste atrocities law has prompted an array of intellectuals and artistes to come out in support of academic Ashis Nandy from India and abroad. They include Romila Thapar, Gayatri Chakravorti Spivak, Aparna Sen, Shabana Azmi, Sharmila Tagore, Dipesh Chakrabarty, Charles Taylor, Rajeev Bhargava and Yogendra Yadav. Referring to his controversial statement at the Jaipur Literature Festival,...

-Frontline While the broadcast media often arrogates to itself the right to speak in the name of the nation, catering to their “customers” in the process, intellectuals have a duty to question such practices and resist being co-opted by the channels. It may not be far-fetched to speak in terms of a new “mediacracy” riding the airwaves. The movers and shakers perched on the prime time news shows on television seem,...

-The Hindu Only 75% of MGNREGS workers have been enrolled; many without Aadhaar number denied access to benefits GOLLAPROLU (EAST GODAVARI, AP): The popular tagline for the Aadhaar-linked Direct Benefits Transfer (DBT) is Aam aadmi ka paisa, aam aadmi ke haath (People’s money in their own hands). The DBT pilot project was launched in East Godavari district of Andhra Pradesh earlier this month, with Union Rural Development Minister Jairam Ramesh hailing the scheme...

-The Business Standard Since cities have little money to cover operational costs of running buses, they do not invest in new buses or modern infra Liquor baron Ponty Chadha and his brother – both died recently in a fratricide – had another business that is not widely known. They had acquired the concession to run public transport buses in Delhi — three clusters with a combined fleet of 600-odd vehicles. Even before...

-PTI Delhi chief minister Sheila Dikshit on Friday termed the "horrific assault" on the 23-year-old girl as "most painful" incident for her since she assumed the top post in the capital and said she personally favoured death penalty for rapists. She said she hated Delhi being called "rape capital" of India and stressed that "something concrete" must be done to instill confidence among women in the city against the growing fear of...