-Livemint.com The environment ministry, with the aim of making water bodies fit for bathing, has decided to tighten water quality norms. It made the draft of the new standards made public on Monday, seeking views within 30 days. In the draft standards, the ministry has presented 14 points to determine the quality of water in a river or water body. They include factors such as total coliform (TC), fecal coliform, pH value, bio-chemical...

-Tehelka TEHELKA decodes five points for its readers from the “historical bill” tabled in the Delhi Assembly, which has been overlooked during the entire hullabaloo. Anna Hazare, the face of the anti-graft movement, had extended his support to the Delhi Janlokpal Bill 2015. His support comes at the time when former aides, Prashant Bhushan and Yogendra Yadav, had publically trashed the bill as ‘mahajokepal’. Suspended BJP leader OP Sharma, in conversation with...

-The Times of India Yet another deluge, coming close on the heels of the wettest November Chennai has seen in over a century, is something the city just could not cope with. Heavy rains on November 16 had exposed the appalling state of the civic infrastructure that was totally unprepared to handle the floods. Clogged and overflowing drains, inundated housing colonies, rotting garbage, electrocutions and roads caving in at many places...

-The Times of India NEW DELHI: Expressing concern over increasing number incidents of children being bitten by stray dogs, the Supreme Court on Monday sought response from the Centre on how to control the menace and provide free treatment and anti-rabies medicine to the victims. A bench of Justices Dipak Misra and Prafulla C Pant said the state governments and local municipal bodies should be held accountable for not controlling stray dogs...

-Livemint.com A large number of central schemes end up curbing the autonomy of states In some ways, the thunder of finance minister Arun Jaitley’s first full-year budget was stolen by the Fourteenth Finance Commission (FFC) report. Released just a few days before the budget speech was made, the FFC brought in significant changes in state-centre finances by increasing the devolution to states from 32% to 42% of the net Union tax...