Anna Hazare's followers have made it clear that political leaders are not welcomed to join the anti-corruption campaign launched by the veteran social activist and Gandhian. Hazare's supporters stopped two political leaders - Uma Bharti and Om Prakash Chautala - from entering the dharna venue at New Delhi's Janatar Mantar on Wednesday. Both Uma Bharti and Chautala, who had come to meet Hazare, were heckled and forced to leave the area.   Hazare,...

Vishnu Medhkar (34) has filed a police complaint alleging that he was beaten up after seeking information about a Turbhe-based stone quarry workers' association under the Right To Information (RTI) Act. A resident of Turbhe, Vishnu claimed that he was thrashed on SaTurday evening by three family members of a local Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) corporator, Amit Medhkar. "Between 6.45 pm and 7 pm, I was assaulted by Amit's father...

In Kerala, where paddy cultivation is going out of favour because of labour problems and high costs, the novel System of Rice Intensification’ (SRI) has shown the potential to rehabilitate this crop. This innovative technique ensures substantially higher productivity and lower input use. The SRI system has, in fact, proved its utility in many other regions as well, spanning Sikkim in the north-east to Tamil Nadu in the south. The environment-friendly SRI...

Ignoring Prime Minister Manmohan Singh's appeal, veteran social activist Anna Hazare began an indefinite fast on Tuesday pressing for a more stringent anti-corruption Lokpal bill. The call has evoked a massive response across the country with even the high profile NAC led by Sonia Gandhi in broad agreement with civil society. Responding to the call of Anna Hazare, hundreds Turn into Satyagrahis and along with him, fast for a strong Lokpal bill...

From the Prime Minister down, WikiLeaks has exposed the rotten state of the world's largest democracy for all to see. Food prices become intolerable for the poor. Protests against corruption paralyse Parliament. Then a series of American diplomatic cables released by the WikiLeaks exposes a brazenly mendacious and venal ruling class; the head of government adored by foreign business people and journalists loses his moral authority, Turning into a lame duck. This...