-The Hindustan Times Kolkata: Probing the infamous Saradha scam for Bengal's investigating agencies is like searching for the man who stole overcoats in Nikolai Gogol's The Overcoat. It is a mammoth task made more difficult due to the involvement of political bigwigs. The enormity of the challenge is manifold. First, the web of financial irregularities amounting to thousands of crores of rupees. Second, the involvement of politicians in the scam and third,...

-The Hindustan Times Patna: Preliminary figures of the Annual Health Survey (AHS) 2011-12, conducted in nine states across the country are out. With a Crude Birth Rate (CBR) of 26.3, Bihar ranks at the top among all states with regard to childbirths per 1,000 people. Of the states surveyed, Uttarakhand with a CBR of 19.1 and Odisha with 19.8 are the best performers. The other surveyed states - Jharkhand, Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh,...

-The Hindu Violence against the state is tragic but it contains the seeds of rejection. Only an inclusive approach that respects human rights can eliminate extremism Perhaps no other chain of events in the recent past has had a more direct and substantial impact on the life of human beings across the world than acts of terror. Terrorism has not only affected our lives directly, but has also allowed the state to...

-The Times of India NEW DELHI: In a worrying fallout of the rising diabetes and hypertension cases in urban India, a study across 12 cities found 17 out of every 100 people suffering from kidney disease. Of this, 6% had stage III kidney disease which necessitates medical attention and, in some cases, costly treatment like dialysis or transplant. The study used data from 13 hospitals, both private and government, across 12 cities...

-The Hindu     While the legitimacy of political parties depends on their acceptance of financial transparency under the RTI Act, their internal decision-making processes should be left alone The Central Information Commission (CIC) decision declaring political parties as public authorities under the Right to Information Act has again pit the political class against the people. Political parties have increasingly lost legitimacy due to opaque financing, cultivation of individuals with a criminal background, subversion of...