West Bengal: State, Centre offer relief 
At least 38 people died on Wednesday and more than 28 were missing as heavy overnight rains hit villages across the northern part of West Bengal. Three villages close to Darjeeling have been affected by the landslides, as are the roads leading up to them. The state government said that it had asked the armed forces to help with relief and rescue work. The West Bengal government has announced compensation of Rs 4 lakh for family members of the dead while the Centre has announced Rs 2 lakh compensation.

Maharashtra: Pankaja Munde denies wrongdoing
Bharatiya Janata Party leader and state Women and Children Minister Pankaja Munde held a press meet on Wednesday at which she claimed she had done nothing wrong after being accused in a purchasing scandal worth Rs 206 crore. Refusing to resign from her post while an investigation was waiting to take place, Munde said she would quit politics if the charges against her were proven.

Delhi: Speaker pulls up BJP legislators 
The Speaker of the Delhi Legislative Assembly, Ram Niwas Goel, on Wednesday denied claims made by three Bharatiya Janata Party MLAs that they had not been granted sufficient time to raise issues in the week-long Budget session that concluded on Tuesday and said they had to be “reprimanded.” Claiming that BJP MLAs were taking up more time than they had asked for in the assembly on budget day while also creating a ruckus and shouting slogans, Niwas accused the BJP MLAs of being impatient and "passing comments" whenever someone said something.

Bihar: BJP says Nitish, Lalu are anti-Dalit
Former Bihar Deputy Chief Minister and Bharatiya Janata Party leader Sushil Kumar Modi has accused Chief Minister Nitish Kumar and Rashtriya Janata Dal leader Lalu Prasad Yadav of being anti-Dalit and anti-Mahadalit. "Thousands of SC/ST students studying engineering, medical or other technical courses in Bihar or outside are compelled to leave the courses midway as the government failed to disburse scholarship," he claimed.

Jammu and Kashmir: 63 govt officers forced into retirement
The Jammu and Kashmir government on Wednesday said it had forced retirement on 63 government officers for reasons such as “corruption and disproportionate assets to inefficient work over the years”. The move is aimed at sending a “strong message to corrupt and inefficient officials” and to signal that the government will “regularly review their work”. The officers were retired by invoking the clause of the J&K Civil Services Rules, which empowers the government to assess the performance of officers after they complete 48 years of age or 22 years of service. The officers will be entitled to pension benefits.