Two Maoists were killed and two security personnel of the 10th Naga Battalion seriously injured in an encounter that began shortly after two Trinamool Congress supporters were shot dead by a group of left wing extremists at Ghatbera in the Balarampur area of West Bengal's Purulia district on Monday evening. The gun-battle continued through the night till early on Tuesday. The exchange of fire occurred when the security forces ambushed the Maoist...

Chief minister Mamata Banerjee tonight formally revived security operations against Maoists after the rebels refused to extend a ceasefire, spoke of war, criticised her Peace envoys and appeared to escalate hostilities by killing two Trinamul supporters. Joint forces in pursuit were locked in a gunfight with the killers till late tonight at a Purulia village in the foothills of the Ayodhya hills. “I will take away the guns of the Maoists. The...

“It will be an apolitical, secular movement with a pro-poor slant” A new group of crusaders against corruption is likely to emerge after a meeting at the Gandhi Peace Foundation in Delhi this Friday. Some of the former members of the India Against Corruption movement's core group, including Waterman Rajendra Singh, land rights activist P.V. Rajagopal, Medha Patkar and Magsaysay Award winner Sandeep Pandey are likely to attend the meeting which...

Wajahat Habibullah, chairperson, National Commission for Minorities, speaks to Kavita Chowdhury on reservation for Muslims, the RTI Act and the controversy over withdrawal of AFSPA in Kashmir. You had recently visited Rajasthan. In Bharatpur district’s Gopalgarh village, some members of the minority community, Mev Muslims, were killed and the state administration was accused of mishandling the matter. What is your view? A communal riot is an unpardonable crime. The state government has taken...

Residents overcome an age-old bastion of discrimination The Dalits of Uthapuram village near here, where the ‘untouchability' wall was demolished in 2008, on Thursday entered a temple under the control of the upper caste Hindus, with police protection. Although scores of upper caste Hindus received the 11 Dalit persons outside the temple with folded hands, the scene was marred by the loud wails of women from the nearby streets who were opposed...