-The Hindu Dehra Dun: The Uttarakhand Government would request the Centre to review the notification on eco-sensitive zone between Gomukh and Uttarkashi as its implementation would adversely affect all development activity and economic progress of the region. Briefing newspersons after a high-level meeting at the Secretariat here on Thursday, Chief Secretary Alok Kumar Jain said it had been decided to seek a review by the Centre after discussing the legal aspects, adverse...

-The Hindu Bangalore: The Karnataka High Court on Thursday ordered issue of notices to the State government and various maths on a public interest litigation petition challenging the government for granting several crores of rupees to 13 Lingayat maths and a few others religious institutions in the budget. A Division Bench comprising Chief Justice D.H. Waghela and Justice B.V. Nagarathna passed the order on the petition filed by H. Marappa and others...

-The Hindu     Imprecise estimates of slums in the 2011 census could affect welfare programmes for least privileged groups The recently published census 2011 report on housing stock, amenities and assets in slums, the first of its kind in the country, reassuringly announced that the number of urban slums has declined and the percentage of households in slums has dropped from 23.5 (2001) to 17.4. On the face of it, this reduction appears...

-Live Mint Mani Shankar Aiyar, India's first panchyati raj minister, talks about the challenges the institutions face On Wednesday, India marked 20 years of panchayati raj, an exercise in devolving power to people at the grassroots. Rajya Sabha memberMani Shankar Aiyar was India's first panchyati raj minister, appointed to the newly created ministry in 2004. He headed a committee that examined the reasons why attempts at sharing power with self-governance units haven't...

-The Hindu   Kozhikode: An audit report of the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme (MGNREGS) has slammed the State government for non-performance and poor maintenance of records in implementing the scheme from 2007 to 2012. The performance audit report, prepared by the Comptroller and Auditor General of India (CAG) and tabled in Parliament on Tuesday, revealed "delays ranging from four to six years in framing rules.'' "There were significant variations between...