Dr U Jaikumaran is breathless with excitement over the phone. “The next five days will be hectic and crucial in our war against hunger. We have to transplant rice on 300 acres in just five days.” Dr Jaikumaran, a professor at the Kerala Agriculture University (KAU), has been building a Food Security Army (FSA) – men and women in green uniforms organised into nine regiments and 24 battalions – who are...

In an attempt to control the rising prices of rice and wheat, the State Government has decided to sell them at Rs. 17 and Rs. 14.70 a kg, respectively, through its cooperative societies. Minister for Food and Civil Supplies H. Halappa told presspersons here on Wednesday that each family coming under above or below poverty line categories was eligible to purchase 25 kg of these commodities at a time. Identity cards...

The state government is contemplating building multiplexes in some selected gram panchayats to make urban entertainment available to the rural populace. Provisions starting from video parlours to indoor games, community halls and auditoriums will be available in these rural multiplexes. Besides, there will be at least 40 shops in each of the rural multiplex, which will be built on public-private partnership (PPP) mode. The proposal was discussed at a meeting chaired by...

The strongest earthquake to hit Haiti in more than 200 years crushed thousands of structures, from humble shacks to the National Palace and the headquarters of U.N. peacekeepers. Destroyed communications made it impossible to tell the extent of destruction from Tuesday afternoon's 7.0-magnitude tremor or to estimate the number of dead lying among the collapsed buildings in Haiti's capital of about 2 million people. International Red Cross spokesman Paul Conneally told the...

Police detain three witnesses to killings in Gompad village, ban journalists from site  Police decline comment on veracity of claims made in petition filed by Sodi Sambho and others There is concern that the facts surrounding the Gompad killings might never be known Konta: The mystery surrounding the killing of nine Adivasis in Gompad village in Dantewada district in October last year is deepening, with the Chhattisgarh police detaining three more witnesses...