-The Hindu   ‘pandal' method a success in Nellai village TIRUNELVELI (Tamil Nadu): Bitter gourd cultivation in a modified form has sweetened the life of an aged farmer. He used to toil hard in his farm in a rain-shadow region of the district under a scorching sun for a modest income from field crops. The magic wand that transformed the life of K. Pasupathi at Mesiapuram near Melaneelithanallur is the ‘pandal' cultivation programme that...

-The New Indian Express   BHUBANESWAR: With women's participation in the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme (MGNREGS) on a decline in the State, the Odisha Government has asked the district collectors to adopt women-specific plans to reverse the trend. Apart from specific types of work which are favourable to women, facilities at the work sites and if possible, incentives must also be provided to district coordinators, the collectors have been told. In...

-The Hindu   ‘Need to ascertain adequacy of existing safeguards against wrong convictions' The Law Commission has called for a reassessment of the need for the death penalty. In a consultation paper released on Friday, the Commission said: "At this juncture, an exhaustive study on the subject would be a useful and salutary contribution to the cause of public debate on this issue. Such a study will also provide a definitive research-backed orientation to...

-The Indian Express   The hearing into allegations against Madhu Koda will be taken up for hearing on May 26. As it plans to grill two former chief ministers - Ashok Chavan and Madhu Koda - over their alleged involvement in cases relating to paid news, the Election Commission has already confirmed as many as 787 cases of paid news in the recently concluded Lok Sabha elections. Of the 3,100 notices that have been...

-PTI   Amid an ongoing debate on freedom of media, the Law Commission has floated a consultation paper to help it recommend an approach to be adopted in tackling issues like opinion polls, paid news, media regulation and use of social media. The law panel said though the country has every reason to celebrate its news media, as society evolves, new challenges are constantly thrown up that require consideration. "Technology has expanded our horizons,...