NEW DELHI: Thousands of farmers from western Uttar Pradesh descended on the capital on Thursday and blocked all key roads leading to Parliament. They were protesting against the Mayawati government for carrying out land acquisition for the Yamuna Expressway project. Though traffic movement in central Delhi areas was affected for a few hours, the protest was peaceful and no untoward incident was reported. Traffic movement was affected at Rajghat, Jawaharlal Nehru...

Thousands of farmers from western Uttar Pradesh descended on the capital on Thursday and blocked all key roads leading to Parliament. They were protesting against the Mayawati government for carrying out land acquisition for the Yamuna Expressway project. Though traffic movement in central Delhi areas was affected for a few hours, the protest was peaceful and no untoward incident was reported. Traffic movement was affected at Rajghat, Jawaharlal Nehru Marg,...

Unfettered coal mining is causing unchecked underground fires that threaten human habitation and the environment, writes geologist Dr Nitish Priyadarshi. The haunting inscription that marks the gates of hell in Dante's Inferno could well be true for Jharkhand. For, the underground fires that have been raging in the coalfields of this state over several years are now beginning to engulf its thickly inhabited areas as well. An underground mine fire that has...

State governments will soon have a greater say in the stand the central government takes on key issues in the ongoing talks for opening up goods and services market in global trade at the World Trade Organisation (WTO). The commerce department will hold regular consultations with state government officials on delicate issues such as safeguards to protect agriculture against indiscriminate imports and shielding sensitive industrial-goods sectors from competition, a commerce...

The government needs to allocate more funds for public health. The mismatch between the declared objective of universal healthcare through the public health system and the actual level of expenditure remains serious.  One of the three most important planks on which Barak Obama won the U.S. presidential election was the country’s healthcare system, which he promised to fix. Indeed, the most important legislative measure initiated by Mr. Obama so far...