-The Telegraph   Chief minister Nitish Kumar today conducted an aerial survey and National Disaster Response Force (NDRF) teams rushed to the central Bihar districts for rescue operations after over 8.39 lakh cusecs of water was suddenly released from the Vansagar dam in Madhya Pradesh. The water released from the MP-based dam has put enormous pressure on the Indrapuri barrage in Rohtas and several places on the embankment along the river Sone. The...

-The Telegraph   Salim Sheikh’s four-year-old daughter and Shailesh Balash’s 11-year-old son are among 23 thalassaemic children who have tested positive for HIV at the Junagadh Civil Hospital where they had been taking regular blood transfusions. Both Sheikh, a labourer, and police constable Balash say their children must have acquired the deadly infection from the hospital, because that is the only place where they received transfusions. The hospital authorities, however, denied they were to...

The activists said houses of members of the Standing Committee who oppose the Jan Lokpal Bill would be gheraoed. Taking the Jan Lokpal agitation further, Team Anna will now undertake a referendum and yatras to ensure that the people are aware of their elected representatives' performance and their stand on the Jan Lokpal Bill. These steps will ensure that the people hold the MPs accountable, Team Anna's core committee members said at...

The Planning Commission has approved irrigation projects worth an estimated Rs.2 trillion over the past year-and-a-half to bolster India’s food security, but analysts say most of the money will not be utilized because of corruption and poor execution. A total 141 projects costing Rs.1.3 trillion were cleared in 2010 alone, according to an internal Plan panel paper on investment clearance of flood control, major and medium irrigation projects and renovation and...

-DNA   The Centre's debt relief scheme for the farmers has given anything but relief to the poor farmers. Despite the Rs 65,318.33-crore Agricultural Debt Waiver and Debt Relief Scheme (ADWDRS) launched by the UPA with much fanfare in 2008, nearly 43.42 million (48.6 per cent) of the 89.35 million farmer households are still in debt. This is the finding of National Sample Survey Organisation (NSSO) report on 'Indebtedness of Farmers Household'. The scheme benefited...