-The Indian Express Patna: Upset over frequent reports of tension and clash between students belonging to different castes, the Bihar government plans to dismantle its SC/ ST, OBC and minority hostels in a phased manner. On January 29, more than 25 students of the Saidpur hostel under Patna University attacked students of Bhimrao Ambedkar Welfare hostel. The clash resulted in three students getting injured. The Welfare hostel, run by the SC/ST Welfare...

-PTI National Human Rights Commission (NHRC) today issued notice to Union Health Secretary and Medical Superintendent of Safdarjung Hospital in Delhi on a complaint alleging that more than 8,200 children have died at the institution in the past five years. The panel issued the notices returnable in four weeks on the complaint by RH Bansal alleging that more than 8,200 children up to the age of five years died during the last...

-The Times of India The UPA-1's Rs 52,000 crore farm loan waiver scheme is turning out to be a big financial scandal. Out of 1 lakh farm loan waiver accounts audited in 700 bank branches across the country — involving disbursement of Rs 500 crore — about 30% of the waiver amount was allegedly found to have been siphoned off by a nexus of bank managers and microfinance institutions (MFIs). A comptroller...

-The Indian Express The Forest Advisory Committee (FAC) has recommended diverting over 500 hectares of forest land for an iron ore mining project in the Saranda forest division of Jharkhand, part of the core area of the Singhbhum Elephant Reserve, India's first reserve for elephants. The FAC is a statutory body that advises the environment ministry on diverting forest land. Its recommendations are not binding. The Singhbhum reserve, created in 2001, is spread...

-PTI Another youth has been arrested in connection with the online abuses and threats to the all-girl rock band of Jammu and Kashmir. Irshad Ahmad Chara, resident of S.D. Colony, Batamaloo, was arrested late Wednesday night during a police raid to apprehend him. Tariq Khan, was apprehended from Bijbehara, a town in South Kashmir, and Rameez Shah was also arrested from Ganderbal in central Kashmir on Wednesday night, police sources said. Jammu and Kashmir...