-The Times of India The Central Bureau of Investigation will soon write to coal producing state governments seeking to know the basis of their recommendations given to private companies who were allocated coal blocks between 2006 and 2009. The agency in its prima facie investigation has found some material which shows that several ineligible companies had allegedly got the coal blocks during the period, CBI sources said.  The CBI is now trying...

-The Economic Times The Union Cabinet is expected to take up for approval a bill that deals with manual scavenging and rehabilitation of scavengers.  For nearly two years now, the Sonia Gandhi-led National Advisory Council has been advocating for a new law to deal with the indignities of manual scavenging and for their rehabilitation. Gandhi had, in November 2010, written to Prime Minister Manmohan Singh asking the government to take steps to...

Araria, Patna: The Bihar government today suspended Raniganj (Araria) Circle Officer Ramvilas Jha, who is facing a probe for engaging middlemen and his relatives to purchase land plots at Kajra and Bistoria from farmers at dirt cheap rates and selling the same to the government at three to four times the price for its Mahadalit land scheme. Revenue and land reform department joint secretary Vijay Kumar Singh said the vigilance department...

-The Hindu Aamir Khan's “Satyamev Jayate” has drawn sharp criticism from Indian Medical Association   Taking forward the debate on commercialisation of health, initiated by actor Aamir Khan in his television show “Satyamev Jayate” that drew sharp criticism from the Indian Medical Association (IMA), health activists have said distortions in medical practices, induced by unregulated commercialisation, have become systemic problems. In an open letter to the IMA, which has sought an apology from Mr....

-The Hindu Police arrested 25 members of Students Federation of India (SFI) here on Tuesday when they tried to picket the office of the Chief Education Officer demanding implementation of 25 per cent reservation of seats for poor students in educational institutions, as assured by the Government under the Right to Education Act. They tried to enter the CEO's office when the police stopped them and arrested them. Arularasan, district secretary of...