-The Telegraph Kairana: Ganna, the sugarcane crop, is threatening to overshadow any talk of "Jinnah" and sour the BJP's chances in Monday's test against a combined Opposition in a corner of western Uttar Pradesh. After the shock setbacks in Gorakhpur and Phulpur in March, the Kairana Lok Sabha by-election has become crucial for the BJP. It's also critical for its rivals, offering a test, days after the Karnataka drama, of whether a united...

-Down to Earth Now, government has promised ‘world’s largest health scheme’ whose implementation is not possible, at least in 2018. Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP)-led National Democratic Alliance (NDA) used the phrase ‘quality health for all’ in its manifesto when Narendra Modi was pushing for his prime ministerial candidature in 2014. It gave hope to many who were campaigning for robust healthcare system in India. However, with the government completing four years...

-The Times of India MUMBAI: In a glaring case of apathy, ailing self-trained farm innovator Dadaji Khobragade (80), who revolutionized paddy farming by developing the high yielding variety of rice called HMT, is struggling to meet his medical expenses. His family has been forced to make a public appeal for donations for just Rs 2 lakh to pay for his hospitalisation. Khobragade, who hails from Nanded village in Nagbid tehsil of eastern...

-The Times of India NEW DELHI: Concerned over hate campaigns and defamatory attacks in social media that have come to dominate political discourse during elections, eight former chief election commissioners (CECs) on Monday suggested that the Election Commission tackle them at source by persuading sites such as Twitter and Facebook to block them “in public interest”. Alternatively, they suggested, the poll panel could engage with the parties to convince them to practise...

-TheWire.in Figures highlighted in an RTI reply cut to the heart of a debate over the government’s assertion to count Mudra loan beneficiaries as employed. New Delhi: Struggling to deliver on the poll promise to create one crore jobs a year, the Narendra Modi government and the BJP may have found a face-saver in the flagship self-employment Mudra scheme, launched under the Pradhan Mantri Mudra Yojana (PMMY) in 2015. However, three years in,...