Food and Civil Supplies Minister C. Divakaran said here on Friday that the Public Distribution System (PDS) in Kerala could be efficient only with the assistance of the Central government. Talking to reporters, the Minister said that the State was food deficit. So, the Centre should extend a helping hand in maintaining the system, he added. The Minister said that he had to face much difficulty in prosecuting the accused in the...

A LEAFY VILLAGE in Kerala, Pathanpara, never found access to India’s electricity grid. That is why for the last several years, this village has been generating its own electricity. Raju, a dhoti-clad cashew nut farmer, operates Pathanpara’s five kilowatt (KW) micro hydropower plant. He lives in the village and earns a salary of Rs 2,250, paid by the People’s Electricity Committee (PEC). The power generated is shared equally by the village,...

United Nations body FAO has said the contagious Avian flu virus H5N1, which causes bird flu, still remains firmly entrenched in India and five other countries because of unhygienic trade practises. "...the virus remains firmly entrenched in Bangladesh, China, Egypt, India, Indonesia and Vietnam," Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) said in a statement. "Eliminating the highly pathogenic H5N1 avian influenza virus from PoUltry in the six countries where it remains endemic will...

While most countries have managed to stamp out bird flu, eliminating the virus from PoUltry in the six countries where it remains endemic will take at least 10 years, the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) says in a new report. The H5N1 strain of highly pathogenic avian influenza (H5N1 HPAI), which was reported in 60 countries at its peak in 2006, remains “firmly entrenched” in Bangladesh, China, Egypt, India,...

Home minister P Chidambaram on Saturday termed the higher judiciary "over ambitious" but applauded it for its activism which "enlarged the ambit of fundamental rights" of citizens. Delivering the inaugural K N Katju memorial lecture on 'What ails the Indian judiciary', he said that like any other institution that has reached a ripe and old age, the judiciary is under stress. ``Another cause of stress is that the judiciary, especially the higher...