IIT's are looking at a controversial proposal that will pick girl candidates over boys, if their scores in the entrance examination are tied

NEWSPAPERS HEADLINES

The Congress Party yesterday constituting its Election Co-ordination Committee for the 2014 Lok Sabha Election, with Rahul Gandhi as its head, is given prominence by this morning's Press. Rahul to lead Congress's 2014 Poll charge, reads the headline The Times of India. Rahul to head Congress's poll panel, set to be PM candidate, says The Pioneer.

Mr. Xi Jinping assuming control as the most powerful man in China, to take over as the Communist Party General Secretary, also received prominence. Xi takes over party, to lead government from March 2013, reports Hindustan Times.

The Hindu writes that the UPA government went on the offensive on Thursday, questioning the CAG's estimate of a 1.76 lakh crore rupee loss to the exchequer in 2001, after the latest flop auction of 2G spectrum that yielded only 9,407 crore rupees, barely a fourth of the amount expected.

Lucknow's globe-trotting clerics in demand for Muharram sermons, writes The Indian Express. With the beginning of Islamic New Year, several Shia clerics of Lucknow have packed their bags and gone abroad, says the paper.

Hindustan Times writes that the male-dominated IIT's are looking at a controversial proposal that will pick girl candidates over boys, if their scores in the entrance examination are tied.

The national capital is experiencing one of the worst phases of 'Solar Dimming', a phenomenon in which less and less direct sunlight reaches the earth, say the scientists of the Indian Meterological Department, report the paper.

And finally, The Times of India informs us that this year, of the 21,600 people challaned so far by the Delhi Police for drunken driving, only five were women. Are women really responsible drivers?, wonders the paper.