Traffic in Kolkata was a mess on Tuesday after auto owners and drivers put blockades at different important intersections of the city and its fringes. The updated police report says that at least eight important roads are blocked since morning due to the agitation. Since Monday, hundreds of auto divers and owners descended on the roads in protest of the excessive hike in LPG price. "In the past one year LPG is...

The case of 18-month-old Sumi in West Bengal received adverse media publicity The government on Friday confirmed that an 18-month-old girl from West Bengal, who developed Acute Flaccid Paralysis (AFP) earlier this month, tested negative for polio. Her stool samples tested negative for wild polio virus in the examination conducted in the Institute of Serology here. A section of the media flashed the case of Sumi Naskar from South 24 Parganas as polio...

-PTI Eminent economist Madhura Swaminathan on Tuesday said the UPA government's flagship Food Security Bill should have a universal appeal as any targeted selection would lead to complications in picking the beneficiaries in a big country like India. The Indian Statistical Institute Professor, whose research falls in the area of food security, agriculture and rural development, said: “the draft Bill, as envisaged currently, will exclude a huge segment of the population.” “Experience shows...

India's decision this month to produce Germany-based multinational Bayer's anti-cancer drug Nexavar, in the first use of "compulsory licensing" in South Asia, will save lives but also raises intricate questions. Under the compulsory licensing process, a government can under World Trade Organization (WTO) rules bypass a patent owner's rights after three years and order the manufacture and sale of life-saving medicines at much cheaper cost than by obtaining the medicine from...

In the first instance of Maoists targeting foreigners, two Italian tourists were abducted in the forests bordering Orissa's Kandhamal-Ganjam districts. The kidnapping came to light late on Saturday night after the Maoists released two men abducted along with the Italians, Bosusco Paolo and Claudio Colangelo.  The Maoists claim the four were kidnapped on March 14. This came to light only after the release of Sontosh Moharana and Kartik Parida with audio...