Union minister Jairam Ramesh's order notwithstanding, the state forest department is unwilling to transfer the rights over harvesting bamboos to forest dwellers. The department currently holds the right to harvest bamboo in the state. Its contention is that allowing villagers to cut bamboo will affect the sustainability of the produce as forest dwellers do not know the proper rules of harvest. Instead, the officials are ready to send the cut...

-The Hindu   For the first time, the Union government will carry out a survey on the use and acceptability of the alternative systems of medicine and employ the results for effective planning of a road map for Ayurveda, Yoga, Unani, Siddha and Homoeopathy (AYUSH). The National Sample Survey Organisation (NSSO) has agreed to include some questions, in its Consumer Expenditure Schedule for the 68th annual round of socio-economic surveys, for collecting...

Even as the Planning Commission stood by its decision to nominate Binayak Sen to its steering committee on health, there is a loud note of disapproval from Chhattisgarh Chief Minister Raman Singh, who has questioned the rationale behind the appointment, saying the rights activist is still facing trial. “The people of Chhattisgarh do not approve of the appointment,” he said. “He has not been absolved of the charges by the court...

A deathly silence hangs over Netai. In neighbouring areas, poll campaigning is on in full swing but the village where nine persons were killed in firing from a CPM camp on January 7, is untouched by it. The Trinamul Congress is not canvassing in Netai as it is “confident” that nobody will vote for the CPM in the area. The CPM, on the other hand, is avoiding campaigning in the area...

The arrest of Suresh Kalmadi on 25 April marked yet another scene in the prolonged drama surrounding the Commonwealth Games held in Delhi in October 2010. Yet the general media focus on Kalmadi may have served to distract attention from the many other acts of omission and commission that mark the sordid history of that extravagantly planned and deeply flawed public show. In these other actions, there are stories of funds...