Newswallah: Bharat Edition

Jammu and Kashmir: In the legislative council elections held this week for four seats under the quota for panchayats, or village councils - the first such polls in 38 years - the governing coalition of National Conference and Indian National Congress won, Kashmir Live reported. The voters comprised 33,540 elected village council members and heads from the Jammu region and Kashmir Valley, according to an IANS report on the IBNLive Web site.

Arunachal Pradesh: Three years after the central government released three million rupees to the state to implement the national health insurance plan known as the Rashtriya Swastha Bima Yojana, potential  beneficiaries are still waiting, according to a PTI report in The Hindu Business Line. State officials said a memorandum of agreement between the state and Royal Sundaram, the insurance company chosen to implement the program, had yet to be signed, according to the report.

Manipur: The Supreme Court of India said Thursday that a special investigating team should be established to look into so-called encounter killings in the state, according to a PTI report carried by IBNLive. The court was responding to litigation filed by a group representing the families of alleged victims of “fake encounters” carried out by security forces.  

Rajasthan: A program to improve broadband connectivity in rural areas has begun in Arain town in Ajmer district, The Times of India reported. The goal is to give 250,000 elected village councils across the country broadband Internet connections within a year. The Universal Service Obligation Fund of India, funded by a percentage of all telecom companies' revenue, is financing the project.  

Maharashtra: In a recent report, India's comptroller and auditor general chastised the armed forces authorities in Pune for failing to prevent the unauthorised use of defense assets, Daily News & Analysis reported. According to the report, the Army Public School, which is run by the Army Welfare Education Society, w as using eight military-owned buildings in violation of Ministry of Defense guidelines.

Andhra Pradesh: At the urging of Congress lawmakers pushing to establish Telangana as a separate state, the governing United Progressive Alliance on Wednesday agreed to hold an all-party meeting to discuss the controversial bid, according to a report in The New Indian Express.  Legislators from Telangana, which is a region in Andhra Pradesh, said the meeting would be held on Dec. 28.