Biometric cards for free medical care VS puts the blame on unscientific spraying Says Centre should give matching relief Chief Minister V.S. Achuthanandan on Friday inaugurated the disbursal of enhanced pension and biometric cards to persons afflicted with serious ailments and permanent disabilities suspected to be caused by the aerial spraying of Endosulfan on the cashew estates of the Plantation Corporation of Kerala (PCK) in the district. The biometric card will make them...

Inspired by the RTI Act, Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Mayawati is all set to bring in a new legislation aimed at making government officials "accountable to the common man". The Janhit Guarantee Bill, to be unveiled by the BSP supremo on her 55th birthday tomorrow, promises timely delivery of information and documents like birth and death certificates and revenue records to the people, an official said. It also empowers the people to...

The trial court judgment holding Binayak Sen guilty of sedition has led to widespread outrage. IN India's legal history, no trial court judgment in a criminal case has perhaps caused as much international outrage as the December 24, 2010, judgment of the Second Additional District and Sessions Judge of Raipur, B.P. Verma, did. In his 92-page judgment, Judge Verma convicted Dr Binayak Sen, the well-known human rights activist and medical...

A small farmer in Maharashtra, whose high-yielding rice variety is popular in five States, is denied the benefits of his research. TWENTY-SEVEN years ago, Dadaji Khobragade of Nanded Fakir village in Chandrapur district of Maharashtra noticed yellow seeds in three spikes of a paddy stalk in his field. Intrigued by the freak harvest, he preserved the grains. He subsequently planted them in a six-foot square plot, which he covered with thorny...

Former Chief Justice of India K.G. Balakrishnan’s younger brother K.G. Bhaskaran, who had gone on medical leave following allegations of amassing wealth, today resigned as special government pleader in Kerala High Court. In his resignation letter, sent to advocate-general C.P. Sudhakara Prasad, Bhaskaran said he was resigning on health grounds. Prasad had earlier asked him to go on leave or quit. This is the second resignation following the media exposures on wealth...