In what the CBI says could be the “tip of an iceberg”, the agency has found at least 1,100 cases of allegedly fraudulent refund checks issued by the Income Tax department that has resulted in the illegal withdrawal of more than Rs 6 crore over the last three months. The CBI has arrested two persons, including an accountant: Pankaj Kumar Gupta and Amit Kumar Sharma. Both, allegedly in league with IT...

Aamra ekhon-o boli ni kon kagoj porte hobe, kintu agami dine kintu setao bole debo. (Till now, we haven’t told which newspapers must be read, but in the future, we will do that as well.) – West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee, speaking on March 29 in defense of her government’s decision to bar all but 13 newspapers from more than 2,400 government-approved libraries across the state. “Kunal Ghosh, associate editor...

-One World South Asia The World Bank signs an agreement with India to inject $ 352 million into the National Dairy Support Project, an initiative designed to revive the flagging fortunes of milk production in the country. Other than being crucial to the nutritional security of the country’s population; dairy farming or dairying is also a major source of livelihood for 147 million rural households in India. Spurred by the success of the...

Money from the Department for International Development has helped pay for a controversial programme that has led to miscarriages and even deaths after botched operations Tens of millions of pounds of UK aid money have been spent on a programme that has forcibly sterilised Indian women and men, the Observer has learned. Many have died as a result of botched operations, while others have been left bleeding and in agony. A...

-The Hindustan Times The anticipatory bail petition of RTI activist Manoj Kumar Karwasra was dismissed on Friday by additional sessions judge, Hisar, Sant Parkash. Karwasra had been booked under IPC sections 419, 420 and 120-B on the complaint of BS Rana, president, St Sophia School Education Society. Karwasra allegedly misused BPL card of Jeet Ram to seek information under the RTI Act, as BPL card-holders can seek information free of cost. Police...