This is a saga of how the Hindu outfit saw the promise in Anna and pursued him for its gains. How often do we meet strangers on a flight and realise that it could possibly be the beginning of a lasting friendship? This is how yoga teacher Ramdev and super cop Kiran Bedi met in mid 2010 when both of them were on the same flight and Ramdev spotted her. Although fate...

-The Business Standard   Almost three months ago, the Union Cabinet cleared the Land AcquiSITion, Rehabilitation and Resettlement Bill, 2011. For all projects without a public purpose and requiring more than 100 acres of land, the Bill had made mandatory the consent of 80 per cent of the people whose land would have to be acquired. In addition, the compensation for land was pegged at 100 to 300 per cent over the...

-PTI   Ashodaya Samiti, a sex workers' collective in Mysore, has for the first time tied up with foreign univerSITies and institutions to conduct a comprehensive research on improving women's Sexual and Reproductive Health (SRH) in India and in Africa.  Ashodaya Samiti has joined a consortium consisting of univerSITies and institutions in five countries, of which three are in Africa, to conduct SRH research services through identifying best practices in delivering a combined...

-The Economic Times   Prime Minister Manmohan Singh on Wednesday night held consultations with water resources minister PK Bansal on the Mullaperiyar dam - an old dispute between Kerala and Tamil Nadu, which has been reignited by a movie, Dam 999, and fresh cracks on the dam following two minor quakes in the region.  "It is amongst themselves that the matter can be sorted out. We can only play a role of facilitator....

India's Maoists have spread north-east, gaining a foothold in the strategically located states bordering China and Burma, officials and analysts say. The Maoists are filling the void created by dwindling ethnic insurgent groups like the Ulfa, an Institute for Conflict Management (ICM) report says. One key Assam official told the BBC that boys thought to have gone south for jobs had instead joined the rebels. The Maoists have become squeezed in their traditional...