The National Human Rights Commission (NHRC) has asked the Kerala government to expedite relief measures in the form of financial and medical assistance to victims affected by the indiscriminate use of pesticide Endolsulfan, particularly in Kasaragod district. The commission directed the State government to make use of the services of a charitable trust which had volunteered to set up special schools and hospitals for Endosulfan victims. The NHRC held a meeting here...

A convicted rapist out on bail has been arrested along with his cousin for brutally beating his own aunt and another widow to death in the name of family honour. Tension prevails in the area while the accused is unrepentant. The two women were attacked at Ranila village in Bhiwani district late Sunday night. The horrific crime was committed in front of at least 200 villagers, including dozens of women, but...

Six items prioritised for Prajapatham The State Cabinet has identified six priorities for this year's Prajapatham mass-contact programme proposed to be held from May first week to solve the people's identified problems. They are drinking water supply and sanitation; implementation of National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme (NREGS) with emphasis on arresting migration of labour; social security benefits like pensions and ration cards; disbursement of arrears to self-help groups under Pavala Vaddi...

Do we, the Indian middle class, see the corruption within us? I was too busy being corrupt to join Anna Hazare’s camp last week. For four days, I heard nothing but stories of our Tahrir Square-like revolution against the corrupt unfurling right under our noses in Delhi’s Jantar Mantar. But it was school admission time and I had some serious palm-greasing, document-fudging, string-pulling, weight-throwing and tout-chasing to do. I had...

It is not often that a social security programme the size of Mahatma Gandhi NREGS - New Delhi has spent Rs 40,000 crore on it in 2010/11 alone - faces an existential moment. But, April 2011 will present one such crossroad: the end of the term of a bureaucrat widely acknowledged as the prime mover behind the five-year old scheme. Brought in six years ago to the Centre from her parent...