-PTI The National Rural Health Mission scam in Uttar Pradesh has turned murkier with another health official being found murdered at his home — the fifth victim in the last one year after the alleged bungling of over Rs.10,000 crore of Central funds surfaced. The U.P. police found the body of Mahendra Sharma, an accountant, with severe injuries on his head and face, from the Pasgawan health centre area in Lakhimpur Kheri...

Even as “money-chasing” media persons and news organisations are coming up with innovative ways to hoodwink the Election Commission (EC) in its drive to seek out “paid news”, the authority has so far detected as many as 42 instances of alleged paid news in Uttar Pradesh where the Assembly polls are being held. Of these, notices have been served on 38 candidates — on whose favour the writing/telecast have been made...

Odisha village gets pattas after nearly half a century. Land reform programmes get jumpstart They say home is where the heart is, but that’s not always true. Ask Arakhita Pradhan, resident of Chilipoi village in Odisha’s Ganjam district. On a cold evening some 44 years ago, the authorities forcefully shifted him and his neighbours to a place where no civic amenities existed. Reason: the state had built an irrigation dam that...

In a quiet coup of sorts, Maoists have taken control of panchayats in about 30 blocks of Malkangiri and Koraput districts in the ongoing panchayat elections in Orissa. All their nominees have been elected unopposed after the Maoists warned local people against nominating any other candidate. Close to 2,500 members of these panchayats have also been elected unopposed. Sources said at least 32 heads of panchayats (sarpanches) have known Maoist...

-The Telegraph A local court today directed the special investigation team probing the Gujarat riots to submit a complete report on the Gulbarg society massacre within a month but restricted its access to only the original complainant. Metropolitan magistrate M.S. Bhatt said Zakia Jafri — whose husband, former Congress MP Ehsan Jafri, was among 69 people killed on February 28, 2002,— would be given a certified copy, but not the other petitioners,...