Social activist Anna Hazare said here on Monday that though the Prime Minister had a good character, the reason he failed to take action against the corrupt was because of ‘remote control'. “It is only because of the ‘remote control' that he cannot do anything. Otherwise he is such a good man,” Mr Hazare said during a press conference organised by ‘India Against Corruption' to gather support for the ‘Jan...

DEALS WITH MULTINATIONALS AND OTHER BIG AGRIBUSINESS COMPANIES A wide range of farmers’ organisations, Gandhian organisations, people’s movements and NGOs have united to oppose a series of disturbing agreements which the Rajasthan Government reached with various multinational and other agribusiness companies including Monsanto. These agreements, which greatly increase the control and influence of these companies over the agriculture sector in India’s biggest State (in terms of area), have proved so controversial...

His ministry had earlier put a stop on the project citing ecological damage Delhi Govt. insisted that only the dam can solve Capital's water woes Union Environment and FoRests Minister Jairam Ramesh on Sunday said he will undertake an inspection of the Nahan Valley in Himachal Pradesh, the site of the proposed Renuka Dam, which has been turned down by his office on the grounds that it involves the axing of 1.77...

A pilot survey finding that 25-30% of the rural population can be automatically excluded from food security entitlements for below poverty line population might help forge a consensus between the government and the Sonia Gandhi-led National Advisory Council. The "automatic exclusion" criteria, devised on the basis of the N C Saxena report on methodology for a BPL census, is more liberal than the "bare bones" approach adopted by the government in...

Planning Commission deputy chairman Montek Singh Ahluwalia on Saturday said the Vidarbha region has failed to keep pace with development in the Rest of the country. Speaking to TOI, he said, "I won't use the word backward because we do not believe in that concept. But, yes, Vidarbha is clearly lagging behind the Rest of Maharashtra." He was in Nagpur to speak on 'Growing disparity despite growing GDP'. "He urged the people...