Here are some important reports from the biggest newspapers of India:
1. Gujarat organ racket - Some sold kidney for money, some for fun
Reacting to the recently unearthed racket of at least 13 Pandoli villagers in Anand district who sold kidney for money, Health Minister Nitin Patel Monday informed the Gujarat Assembly that not all persons sold their kidneys out of poverty, many did so for "mauj-shauk (fun)".
The minister made a statement before the Assembly after four MLAs — three Congress and one BJP — demanded a debate on the issue, seeking to know the steps taken by the state government.
Congress had lambasted the government over the kidney racket, reported The Indian Express.
2. Neighbours also under odd-even pollution lens
The Delhi government will monitor air quality across NCR in the next oddeven fortnight that starts on April 15. This is being done to compare changes in the pollution level, if any, during the period when traffic on Delhi's roads is expected to reduce substantially .
"We will set up monitoring stations in NCR so that we are able to draw comparisons between the air quality of Delhi and neighbouring areas during the two weeks of odd-even scheme. The environment department will keep an eye on the air quality on specific roads through mobile vans that will monitor pollution levels twice a day on such stretches," transport minister Gopal Rai told The Times of India.
CPCB is already monitoring air pollution in NCR and the mobile vans will only add another set of figures to the existing database. The problem remains that there is still no 24hour data available to assess the real impact of such an initiative.
3. After PM, Kejri to feature at Tussauds
After PM Narendra Modi, it's Delhi CM Arvind Kejriwal who will join the ranks of world leaders at Madame Tussauds.Kejriwal's wax statue will be displayed at a Delhi gallery of the London museum that is likely to open next year.
A team of artists from London may visit Delhi next month to get measurements of Kejriwal for his wax statue. The first-of-itskind wax museum will be set up in Connaught Place by 2017, said a report in The Times of India.
Recently , Madame Tussauds had released a video of artists taking PM Modi's measurements for his statue. Delhi toursim minister Kapil Mishra said the London-based museum had sent an invitation to the CM a few months ago and that Kejriwal had accepted the proposal for a wax statue.Kejriwal will be the first Indian CM to be featured by he iconic museum.
4. Nirbhaya effect? Tourist inflow rises, but dip in growth of women arrivals
After the Nirbhaya gang rape in December 2012, India's dubious distinction of being unsafe for women got even more strengthened. Industry leaders spoke about women tourists from overseas shying away from the country .
However, its impact on tourism can only be gauged now, with government data revealing how growth in women tourist arrivals dropped from 11.6% in 2013 to 9.7% in 2014, reported The Times of India.
This may not appear to be a sharp slide, but it will be useful to note that the total foreign tourist arrivals increased by 10.2% in 2014 as compared to 2% the previous year.
5. Stress drives Class XII student to slit wrist with compass outside exam hall
A Class XII student is battling for his life after the fear of failing his board exams drove him to slit his wrists with a compass in Bhopal on Monday.
This attempted suicide takes the number of students who attempted or committed suicide in the state in the last two months of board exam preparations to 13.
The state Assembly speaker has formed a panel of MLAs to look into the issue, reported The Times of India.
6. For ISIS, virtual is the real as it scouts for India recruits
Intelligence Bureau officials estimate the Islamic State's Indian cell, led by one-time Indian Mujahideen operative Muhammad Shafi Armar, has engaged more than 700 people in conversation — and raised more than 20 identified volunteers.
The recruits' online activities and their online stomping-grounds cast unprecedented light on the Islamic State's new campaign — a campaign to raise an army, using nothing but zeros and ones flying through cyberspace. Long before his alleged jihadist project began, Shaikh's main Facebook page shows Islam, and its relationship with culture in a changing world, figured high on his agenda.
In the autumn of 2012, for example, he posted links to an article on French rap singer Mélanie Georgiades who converted to Islam after years of drug-fuelled excesses led to her hospitalisation, said a report in The Indian Express.
7. In J&K jail, a 4-yr-old who refuses to leave
Inside a police station in Ganderbal, four-year-old Pakistani boy Iftikhar Ahmad clings to his father and refuses to leave. Iftikhar's father, 43-year-old Gulzar Ahmad Tantray, had in 1990 crossed over from Ganderbal's Saloora village to Pakistan, allegedly for arms training.
Gulzar returned to the Valley with his son last Thursday and, after spending a night at home, presented himself before the police Friday morning.
Ganderbal Superintendent of Police Imtiyaz Ismail Parray told The Indian Express that while the "boy is free to go", he does not want to leave his father.
8. UP campaign begins: Congmen get 20 questions from Kishor
Uttar Pradesh Congress president Nirmal Khatri has dispatched to district and city party committee presidents a 20-point pre-poll questionnaire prepared by poll strategist Prashant Kishor.
The 14-page questionnaire in Hindi has asked the leaders to submit their views on various aspects of election and campaign strategies to be adopted, inputs for potential social engineering and the strength and weakness of the Congress and rivals and the lessons to be learnt from past elections.
The questionnaire asks the leaders to state what they think are three strongweak points of the Congress in their respective regions and whether projection of a chief ministerial candidate or a caste-combination, or a strong local candidate can help the party most, said a report in The Economic Times.
9. All trainee IAS officers to have 3-month Delhi stint
A three-month stint in Delhi would become a permanent fixture for trainee IAS officers with the Centre impressing upon the need for them to attend conferences and seminars of various ministries to be addressed by the prime minister.
IAS officers of the 2014 batch currently undergoing training at Lal Bahadur Shastri National Academy of Administration in Mussourie (LBSNAA) will arrive in New Delhi for the 3-month stint on August 1 and will be posted as `Assistant Secretaries' in various ministries, said a report in The Economic Times.
"The Assistant Secretaries of 2014 batch will be expected to join the seminars organised by various ministries or departments to be attended by the PM, subject to space, utility , etc. of conferenceseminars to Assistant Secretaries," as per minutes of a meeting chaired by the Secretary (Personnel) Sanjay Kothari in February.
10. Job scam that shattered the dreams of 200 youths
Fresh out of college and jobless, Rajkot resident Harsh S Nar, 21, desperately wanted a government job. In August last year, when the B Com graduate saw an advertisement in Sandesh newspaper — a prominent Gujarat weekly — offering jobs in the ‘Indian Government Secret Service', he thought he had found his calling.
He called the phone number in the advertisement and within days, received an appointment letter on an MHA letterhead with the stamp of an Ashoka emblem. Harsh was asked to deposit Rs 35,000 and reach Delhi to report at the Ministry of Home Affairs.
When he packed his bags and left for Delhi, he did not know he had been conned by two men, who release such advertisement across the country, promising jobs and fleeing with the security deposit, reported Hindustan Times.
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