-The Times of India   NAGPUR: The voting figures available after elections show an extensive use of 'None of the above' (NOTA) option in most Naxal-affected Lok Sabha constituencies like Gadchiroli in Maharashtra, Bastar and Kanker in Chhattisgarh and Adilabad in Andhra Pradesh. The wide use of NOTA has led to suspicions that Naxals may have prompted voters to go for it given that they had called for a boycott of polls. In...

-Down to Earth   The new government may take efforts to eradicate the disease, says BJP representative  Majority of the seats in eastern Uttar Pradesh and parts of western Bihar have fallen in Bharatiya Janata Party's account. Will the change of guard bring any relief to the children dying from Japanese Encephalitis in the area? Aditya Nath, BJP representative in Parliament from Gorakhpur, who had been vociferously speaking about the issue, now senses a...

-Frontline   Political parties flush with funds provided by corporate houses are winning over journalists, and some news organisations are creating packages for election coverage, making the phenomenon of ‘paid news' all pervasive. THE credibility of journalism and journalists has been greatly undermined by the scourge of cash for coverage, a much-abhorred sickness in the profession worldwide. News space on television, radio and newsprint is compromised with impunity with blatant advertising parading...

-The Telegraph   Ranchi: Jharkhand has started to digitise its public distribution system (PDS) as a part of the National Informatics Centre's (NIC) pan-India initiative to monitor foodgrain theft, but for now only on a pilot basis across six blocks of as many districts. Part of the larger Rs 160-crore central project, Jharkhand is starting with distributing tablets and hand-held computers to 200 of the state's 22,500 PDS dealers in blocks of Ormanjhi...

-Live Mint   A key reason for the surge in anti-incumbency faced by UPA has been its failure to curb inflationary pressures New Delhi: A key reason for the surge in anti-incumbency faced by the Congress-led United Progressive Alliance (UPA) has been its failure to curb inflationary pressures for most of the regime's second tenure. While inflation based on wholesale prices averaged 6.1% during UPA-1 (2004-2009), it was a percentage point higher at 7.1%...