-The Times of India CHENNAI: Four states account for nearly half of the country's dalit population, reveals the 2011 census. Uttar Pradesh stands first with 20.5% of the total scheduled caste (SC) population, followed by West Bengal with 10.7%, says the data released by the Union census directorate on Tuesday. Bihar with 8.2% and Tamil Nadu with 7.2 % come third and fourth. Dalits form around 16.6% of India's population. The 2011...

-The Times of India NEW DELHI: Giving in to pressure from the autorickshaw lobby, the Delhi government on Wednesday decided to raise auto and taxi fares by a significant 25%. The government defended the hike citing inflation and costlier CNG but remained silent on a deadline for installing GPS in 55,000-odd older autorickshaws, a move that could prevent unsuspecting passengers from being taken for a ride. The auto fare hike is substantial. From...

-The Telegraph Ranchi: Sluggish economy and soaring personal aspirations are teaming up to create fertile ground for quick-rich chit fund schemes and non-banking finance companies such as the now-infamous Saradha to mushroom, but rules to give Jharkhand investors the much-needed safety net are hanging fire since over a year. Jharkhand Assembly had early last year forwarded rules framed by the state's institutional finance department for the President's consideration under The Chit Funds...

-The Hindu     Minister relaxed tax benefit-related residency norms for foreign investors Finance Minister P. Chidambaram on Tuesday allayed apprehensions over the imposition of wealth tax on agricultural land within urban area limits to provide a big relief to farmers, especially in Haryana and Punjab. Mr. Chidambaram relaxed the tax benefit-related residency norms for foreign investors routing funds through countries such as Mauritius and lowered the withholding tax rate to five per cent from...

-The Indian Express Having made a mistake, UPA errs again by waiting to see what it can get away with The Supreme Court severely censured the CBI on Tuesday for having shared its status report on coal block allocation with the political executive, disregarding the court's specific instruction not to do so. Meanwhile, Assistant Solicitor General Harin Raval accused Attorney General Goolam E. Vahanvati of lying to the court about the matter,...