-The Hindu Election Commission team coming on April 8 to review poll preparedness Bangalore: Now you can find crucial details about a candidate contesting the Assembly elections - his criminal record and assets/liabilities - in one consolidated format. Information on both these aspects will be part of a single document and will be up on the Election Commission website within 24 hours of it being filed. Hitherto, these details were in scattered in...

-The Indian Express Yavatmal: Works worth Rs 36 crore were completed in less than four months, supposedly a manual effort under the central employment scheme MNREGS, according to the Maharashtra's forest department. An inquiry ordered by the district collector has found it was made possible by a collusion between forest officials and contractors, who allegedly used machines. Works worth Rs 32 crore were done in only nine of 56 gram panchayats in...

-The Hindu     The circumstances surrounding the custodial death of a Dalit woman in Tamil Nadu in 2002 serve as a reminder of the difficulties in securing justice when the offenders are government functionaries This is a case of justice being awarded after a decade. Last month, the Ramanathapuram Sessions Court sentenced eight policemen to rigorous imprisonment, for up to 10 years, for the 2002 custodial killing of Karuppi, a poor Dalit woman,...

-The Economic Times The government wants to roll out cash benefit transfers throughout the country before the end of its term in 2014. It is a laudable goal, but will require speedy generation of Aadhaar, the unique identification number, and of Aadhaar-linked bank accounts. About 40% of Indians have no access to formal financial services. So, the government wants to step up efforts to open a bank account for every beneficiary and...

-PTI VARANASI: The responsibility of cleaning and maintenance of 12 ghats located along the river Ganga will be given to seven NGOs, a senior official said. The ghats including Dasaswamedh Ghat, Sheetla Ghat, Rajendar Prasad Ghat, Prayag Ghat, Manmandir Ghat, Meer ghat, Munshi Ghat, Bhonsle Ghat, Guleriya Ghat, Ganesh ghat and Shivala Ghat will be taken care of by the NGOs for a period of three years, Divisional Commissioner Chanchal Kumar Tiwari...