-First Post With 10 state assembly elections this year and the general election in the next, the Congress-led United Progressive Alliance (UPA) faces possibly its sternest challenge since it returned to power in 2009. It goes without saying that the forthcoming electoral tests have been compounded by the perceptibly declining political standing of the ruling alliance caused by multiple scams and economic stagnation. In addition, defeats in a series of elections ranging...

-Live Mint In an interview, India’s food minister says the Bill is about making the Right to Food a legal entitlement Prospects for the National Food Security (NFS) Bill—United Progressive Alliance (UPA) chairperson Sonia Gandhi’s dream legislation—haven’t looked better. Food minister K.V. Thomas, in charge of fine-tuning the contours of the Bill, is confident of steering it through Parliament during the budget session. In an interview, Thomas said the Bill isn’t merely...

-The Times of India THENI: Villages near Bodi Hills in Tamil Nadu are seeing a quiet revolution in animal-rearing facilitated by technology. Many women in these villages, who are involved in goat farming, are harnessing the power of the cell phone, for managing their herds better. Every day, they receive about five voice messages on their mobile phones about scientific methods of goat rearing which they say, have helped them improve...

-The Times of India MUMBAI: The Dharmadhikari panel, in its third interim report to the state government, has suggested placing restrictions on social networking sites as they "corrupt adolescents". A copy of the January 16, 2013, report with 31 recommendations was submitted to a Bombay high court division bench of Chief Justice Mohit Shah and Justice Anoop Mohta on Thursday. The committee, headed by retired high court judge Chandrashekhar Dharmadhikari, was constituted...

-The Hindu Chhattisgarh is all set to allow private diagnostic centres at public health facilities within three months. Critics are appalled by the idea of business space for private players in public health facilities while supporters feel it will improve the pallid health care infrastructure in the State. The architect of the new model, J.P. Mishra, chief of the State Health Resource Centre — the State Health Department’s technical assistance body...