-TheWire.in When a government and ruling party that themselves peddle disinformation now say they want to fight fake news, it is time for the media to batten down the hatches and prepare for the worst. In the name of fighting fake news, the Narendra Modi government is laying a minefield for journalists and media houses that threatens what remains of the free press in India. On Monday, the information and broadcasting ministry spelt...

-The Hindu Five years after the first canteen came up, the future of the pet project of the then Chief Minister Jayalalithaa hangs in balance due to reports of fall in patronage and mounting losses borne by civic bodies. Budgetary support and operational reforms may be necessary for a course correction Sekar. D was observing this newspaper’s team of reporters as he sat cross-legged on the tiled floor. Then, he abandoned his...

-The Times of India PATNA: Bihar spends Rs 170 crore annually deploying 5,000 police personnel out a force of 60,000 as bodyguards for politicians, judges, bureaucrats, police officers, members of constitutional bodies and other governmental functionaries. The NDA government in 2007 had created separate posts of 5,800 bodyguards which were later merged with the police. Patna district police has 1,500 such bodyguards. One constable used to be assigned to each MLA or MLC,...

-The Hindu The technical glitches that plague cash transfers in Jharkhand may not have arisen with a simpler system that does not need Internet connectivity Pilot cash transfer projects taken up in Jharkhand for MGNREGA wages have achieved little success due to a variety of logistical, human and technological problems. A year after the launch of these projects, the problems remain unsolved. In Ramgarh district, a majority of the beneficiaries are in Dohakatu...

 Twenty-two newbie managers, fresh from B-schools across India, are raring to go. Only, they won’t make spreadsheets to sell soaps or fizzy drinks. From June, they will assist senior bureaucrats across 11 districts of Jharkhand where the Centre is funding uplift schemes. These managers — from IIT-Kharagpur, Tata Institute of Social Sciences (TISS)-Mumbai, Visva-Bharti in Bengal’s Santiniketan, XISS-Ranchi, XLRI-Jamshedpur and others — are Prime Minister’s Rural Development Fellows in some of...