-The Telegraph A judge in a key Gujarat riot case today walked down the alleys where the pogrom occurred a decade back, video-graphing the spots and talking to some of the 95 victims’ families. Jyotsna Yagnik’s visit to Ahmedabad’s Naroda Patia, where one of the worst episodes of violence unfolded during the 2002 riots, came at the request of defence lawyers. Mobs allegedly instigated by Mayaben Kodnani, a former minister in the Narendra...

-Express News Service   Concerned over the increasing instances of senior civil and police officers resigning at the last minute to contest polls, the Election Commission of India has asked the government to bring in a “cooling off period” clause for government officers who contest elections. According to sources, many senior officials were found to misuse their positions to nurture their prospective constituencies before finally quitting their jobs to contest elections. In a letter...

-The Telegraph The Planning Commission has set up a committee to suggest an increase in corporate funding for higher education and research. Such funding, mostly seen in developed countries, has remained low in India. The government has so far been the main source of funds for the sector but it is now finding it difficult given the scale of expansion required. The committee, headed by N.R. Narayanamurthy, will develop a framework for engagement...

Millions of Indians are suspected to be carriers of the drug-resistant bug After the scary New Delhi metallo-beta-lactamase-1 or the “superbug” was detected two years ago, the world is now faced with the community-acquired methicillin-resistant staphylococcus aureus (ca-MRSA) bacterium that is resistant to almost all common antibiotics. In India, where poor hygiene and the availability of over-the-counter antibiotics lead to development of resistance, an estimated 100 to 200 million people are reportedly...

On a wall on Station Road, among posters of Khoonkar Darinde and The Dirty Picture, Amitabh Bachchan looks out of a row of yellow-and-red posters and says, “Do boond har baar.” Here in Moradabad, the town in western Uttar Pradesh that till recently exported, besides its intricate brassware, sTRAIns of the deadly polio virus, the posters have been around for long. The writing on the wall was clear: this was...