The government’s ambitious plan of building around 18,637 km expressways by 2022 has hit a roadblock. Following the recent farmers protests against the Yamuna expressway project in Uttar Pradesh and Congress president Sonia Gandhi’s remark favouring justifiable compensation for land acquisition, the government has decided to go back to the drawing board on the creation of an expressway authority and the funding pattern of the projects. The ministry of road...

The drought in greenfield investment projects in the fertiliser sector in India is finally set to end after over a decade. Existing and prospective investors in fertiliser manufacTure are reportedly willing to invest over Rs 45,000 crore in the next few years, both in expansion of existing capacities and creation of new ones. The rising excess demand for fertiliser is driving this renewed spurt in investment activity. The increase in...

A wreath of lesions coils up Sunita Tulavi neck; lesions she says were caused in the course of a three-day interrogation at a Border Security Force camp in Chhattisgarh's Kanker district. “They blindfolded me, tied my hands and then electrocuted me with wires wrapped around my neck and stomach,” said Sunita, a resident of Aloor village, “They questioned me for three days and then released me. My sister is still...

FEW rural pleasures match seeing a golden field of grain, rustling and ripe for reaping. But the harvest season in the northern hemisphere is being marked by Turmoil on global wheat markets. A big reason is to be found in one of the world’s largest wheat exporters, Russia. Hit by fires and drought which have wiped out a third of the grain crop, the authorities there have banned exports, first temporarily...

To keep beggars and destitute away from the public eye especially during the Commonwealth Games, the Delhi Government has come up with a plan to lock them away. The government plans to hide them in parks, which will be covered with tents and Games banners. Senior government officials said they have identified several locations where the beggars would be relocated till the Games are over. And to prevent beggars from moving...