-The Financial Express Differences have cropped up between the Planning Commission and food ministry on the issue of creation of two million tonne capacity silos through the public- private partnership (PPP) mode. Sources say while Food Corporation of India (FCI), the nodal agency to implement the project, has been insisting on making 'railway siding' mandatory for silos, the Planning Commission believes that the construction of railways siding would increase the cost of...

-The Hindu Centre asked to respond to plea for scrapping Armed Forces Act The Supreme Court, expressing concern over extra judicial killings, has asked the Centre and the Manipur government to look into the issue with the utmost seriousness. A Bench of Justices Aftab Alam and Ranjana Desai, hearing a writ petition complaining of mass fake encounter killings, told counsel for the Manipur government on Friday: “You people are killing each other. You...

-The Hindu They have not rejected it; they have simply kept Ratul Khan’s application pending: Education Minister Ratul Khan is among seven top-performing high-school students to win an Assam Government-sponsored scholarship to visit the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) headquarters in the United States, but he has been denied a visa. Chief Minister Tarun Gogoi on Tuesday handed over tickets to the six others who won the first three ranks in the...

-The Hindu Official rehabilitation process stalled as many families lack proper papers Over 30,000 inmates have left relief camps of their own accord to return to the districts of Kokrajhar, Dhubri and Chirang over the past five days. The Bodoland Territorial Council objected to the Assam Government’s ‘pro-forma’ list of displaced families that do not possess land documents even as it rejected land documents of around 13,000 displaced families whose papers were...

-Rediff.com Today, Irom Sharmila, the Manipur civil rights activist, marks 12 years of her fast in protest against the Armed Forces Special Powers Act in the state. She remains in judicial custody where she continues to be force-fed through her nose. Deepti Priya Mehrotra, author of Burning Bright: Irom Sharmila and the Struggle for Peace in Manipur, recalls her association with the Iron Lady of Manipur. I met her initially in October 2006...