-The Times of India LUCKNOW: A number of 'Akhilesh Yadav Laptops' distributed free of cost to Intermediate-pass students by the Samajwadi Party government with much fanfare are up for grabs at throwaway price in open market and online. Several advertisements posted on the buy-and-sell websites are offering these laptops at a meagre Rs 4,000 to Rs 6,000. The ads have been posted by some recipients in Agra, Aligarh, Lucknow and Varanasi and...

-The Hindu     While it is apparent that due process has been subverted to the advantage of a few by the political executive, it is equally true that there has been some politicisation of the civil service Two recent events have focussed attention on the relationship between the political executive and public servants. At the international conference on corruption organised by the Central Bureau of Investigation on November 11, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh...

-The Hindu In an internal briefing paper, accessed by "The Hindu", U.S. tells negotiators to delay emission cut commitments and not to agree on any time line for funds Warsaw: In an internal briefing paper prepared for its diplomats across the world ahead of the Warsaw climate negotiations, which The Hindu has accessed, the U.S. has opposed the setting up of a separate process on ‘loss and damage', pushed primarily for the...

-DNA An allocation of Rs 17,700 crore in the 2013-2014 Union Budget but not a single accountable rupee spent for pre-school education or a plate of food for the homeless children in Mumbai. Yoshita Sengupta investigates the absence of homeless children from ICDS registers Mumbai: In 2010, Ms. Rekha, a homeless woman living on the footpath in Mumbai in her last month of pregnancy, slipped while trying to cross a wall. She...

-The Hindu Opinion polls should be regulated, not banned. Ideally, it should be self-regulation by pollsters and media organisations. The debate around the latest proposal to ban opinion polls is an opportunity in disguise. Beneath the familiar acrimony of partisan debates, a much-needed middle ground has emerged quietly. All we need is a group of stakeholders - pollsters, researchers, media heads and political leaders - to come together to turn this possibility...