-The Indian Express Kolkata: As the investigation into the Saradha chit fund scam threatens to reach the doorstep of the Trinamool Congress, the markets watchdog is learnt to have warned of a larger, more frightening scenario: similar Ponzi schemes run by at least five other companies in West Bengal, involving over Rs 4,000 crore of small investors' money. In its latest communication sent to the state government, the Securities and Exchange Board...

-Live Mint Mani Shankar Aiyar, India's first panchyati raj minister, talks about the challenges the institutions face On Wednesday, India marked 20 years of panchayati raj, an exercise in devolving power to people at the grassroots. Rajya Sabha memberMani Shankar Aiyar was India's first panchyati raj minister, appointed to the newly created ministry in 2004. He headed a committee that examined the reasons why attempts at sharing power with self-governance units haven't...

-Live Mint   Panchayati raj minister V. Kishore Chandra Deo on how the system can function more effectively With the amendments that effected mandatory constitutional powers to panchayats and urban local bodies marking 20 years, V. Kishore Chandra Deo, Union minister for panchayati raj, acknowledged in an interview that the units of local self-governance could function more effectively. He also suggested that the three-tier system of panchayats could be improved to meet challenges...

-PTI PATNA: Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar today told the Centre that implementation of MGNREGA was suffering due to non-availability of funds even as the state government rejected CAG findings on the ambitious rural job scheme as totally "untrue and deceptive". "I have recently reviewed the implementation of MGNREGA in the state and it has been noticed that progress of implementation is suffering due to non-availability of funds," Kumar said in a...

-PTI The Supreme Court on Thursday directed the chief secretaries of Rajasthan, Haryana, Uttar Pradesh, Andhra Pradesh, Maharashtra and Goa to file their affidavits on compliance of its directions on police reforms and constituting state security commission (SSC). A bench headed by Justice GS Singhvi directed the chief secretaries to respond when the SSC was constituted and how many SITtings had taken place and directed them to provide the minutes of the...