-Hindustan Times Uttar Pradesh chief minister Akhilesh Yadav’s decision to use his photograph in newspaper advertisements is tantamount to “an open contempt” of the Supreme Court’s ban on using pictures of CMs in government publicity, legal experts say. Yadav’s photograph appeared recently in full-page newspaper advertisements highlighting an agreement to construct an international Cricket stadium in Lucknow. A Uttar Pradesh government ad with Akhilesh Yadav that appeared in a newspaper on Friday. On May...

-The Hindu So far, 2.11 lakh children across the State enrolled in private schools under the quota Bengaluru: Those ‘big’ schools in the neighbourhood have for long been a dream for many students from the economically weaker sections. The RTE quota that reserves 25 per cent of the seats to such children has come as a boon, though several issues continue to nag the implementation of the Act, which came into force...

-AP American scientist Joshua Apte travels in an autorickshaw to present alarming findings for anyone who spends time on or near the roads in this city of 25 million. The autorickshaw lurched through New Delhi's commuter-clogged streets with an American scientist and several air pollution monitors in the back seat. Car horns blared. A scrappy scooter buzzed by belching black smoke from its tailpipe. One of the monitors spiked. Joshua Apte has alarming...

-The Hindu Pune: An impotent anxiety grips Indira Gaikwad as she hobbles on her crutches in her matchbox house in the mean tenements in the city's Rasta Peth area. A former State-level disabled sports champion, Indira, at 43, is fast approaching the deadline (of 45 years) for differently abled sportspersons aspiring to a government job. Crushed by the financial burdens of looking after her 75-year-old ailing mother, the post-dated promises of goodwill...

-The New York Times AGIRIPALLI: In this belt of villages near the fertile Krishna River delta, much is as it has been for generations: The cotton soil is as black, the mango trees as heavy with fruit, the tobacco fields as fragrant and deeply green as ever. But there have been curious changes in recent months. An old temple has received an expensive renovation, complete with a new banquet hall, courtesy of...