-PTI A Karnataka civil servant who had exposed controversial land allotments by cooperative societies died in hospital today, five days after being attacked and left unconscious on a Bangalore street. The murder of state administrative service officer S.P. Mahantesh, 48, prompted Infosys founder N.R. Narayana Murthy to urge the government to protect honest officials as its first priority. Mahantesh, known for his integrity, was deputy director of the audit wing of the state...

-The Telegraph Question Time Didi, organised by CNN-IBN at the Town Hall on Friday evening, was meant to be a platform for Mamata Banerjee to field questions from a cross-section of Calcuttans on the eve of her completing one year as Chief Minister. But less than 12 minutes and five questions into the event, Mamata stormed off, accusing some students of being “Maoists and CPM cadres”. Taniya Bhardwaj, a Presidency University student...

-PTI West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee on Friday lost her cool and stormed out of an interactive TV session here when members of audience asked her about the arrest of a professor for forwarding a cartoon lampooning her. "It is not a cartoon. We love the cartoon. Cartoon is a different thing. He is a CPI (M) man, He misused the e-mail of his society people without their consent. He forwarded...

Recent events in Parliament concerning a National Council of Educational Research and Training (NCERT) textbook use of a Shankar cartoon of Babasaheb Ambedkar have correctly drawn outrage and public debate. General outrage has also been correctly expressed at the attack on Suhas Palshikar's office in Pune - apparently for his role as chief advisor of the offending textbook. In his statement, human resource development minister Kapil Sibal has chosen to limit...

-The Business Standard The Odisha government expects to send the comprehensive document for the 12th Plan (2012-17) to the Centre by the end of June this year. Ahead of submission of the document to the Centre, the department of planning & coordination has urged all administrative departments to submit their respective reports for compilation of the 12th Plan, listing their priorities and thrust areas, by May 31. “We will be submitting the 12th...