The myth that Fukushima radiation levels were too low to harm humans persists, a year after the meltdown.  A March 2, 2012 New York Times article quoted Vanderbilt University professor John Boice: “there’s no opportunity for conducting epidemiological studies that have any chance for success – the doses are just too low.”  Wolfgang Weiss of the UN Scientific Committee on the Effects of Atomic Radiation also recently said doses observed...

A police constable, allegedly beaten up by a group of miscreants who harassed his niece three days ago, died of injuries here on Sunday. Ashim Dam, a resident of Birati on the northern fringes of the city, died at a private hospital. His family alleged that although they had named the seven persons who perpetrated the attack, none had been arrested so far. “The incident occurred on the day of Holi [March 8]....

Right to Information (RTI) activist Sanjay Bhaklika has alleged that the Adharwadi prison authorities demanded Rs 1.29 lakh from him for 12,500 pages of information on the jail. Bhaklika, 40, a resident of Sai Chowk, Kadakpada in Kalyan, said, “I was in jail for 43 days on a false forgery case. During my time inside the prison, I saw many irregularities. So, after getting released on bail, I decided to expose...

Parliament must use budget session to discuss key pending bills The budget session of Parliament begins today. The last few sessions have been characterised by disruptions and consequent loss of productive time. To see one indicator, the 15th Lok Sabha, half-way through its term, has lost 30 per cent of scheduled time — the worst ever. As a result, many important bills have been pending. It is to be seen whether...

The Parliamentary Standing Committee on Science and Technology, Environment and Forests, which examined ‘The Nuclear Safety Regulatory Bill, 2011,' has suggested the establishment of a Council of Nuclear Safety (CNS) to oversee and review the policies related to radiation/nuclear safety in the country. According to the report of the Committee, presented to Rajya Sabha Chairman Hamid Ansari a few days ago, by its chairman and member from Andhra Pradesh T. Subbarami...