-IANS   Gandhian Anna Hazare has appealed to the nation to turn off the lights for an hour on August 15 in a gesture meant to give momentum to their indefinite hunger strike from the next day. Team Hazare has been granted a spot adjacent to the Firoz Shah Kotla Ground in the capital to hold its protest from August 16. "On Aug 15, at 7 pm, Anna will appeal to the nation...

-The Times of India   District collector Vikas Deshmukh on Wednesday instructed the commissioner of the Pimpri Chinchwad Municipal Corporation (PCMC) to stop the ongoing work on the Pavana pipeline project that led to a violent protest by farmers from Maval taluka on the Pune-Mumbai expressway on Tuesday. The collector also announced the appointment of sub-divisional magistrate of Maval Sanjay Patil for conducting a magisterial inquiry into the incident. Speaking to TOI,...

-The Hindu   Adding a new twist to the farmers' protest in which three persons were killed on Tuesday near Pune, Maharashtra Home Minister R.R. Patil told the Legislative Assembly on Wednesday that first there was private firing from an Indigo or Indica car and that person fled after injuring a local. The injured person filed a police complaint and pieces of the bullet were found and sent for examination, he...

CGNet Swara in Chhattisgarh is a mobile radio platform that has helped bring tribal issues to national attention. MAHADEV SINGH, a Baiga tribal person, hails from a village situated atop a forested hill near Bilaspur, Chhattisgarh. While most of the neighbouring villages are electrified and welfare schemes from the government reach them to an extent, Mahadev's village has lost out in this regard owing to its inaccessibility. Mahadev and his...

The Union Government has announced that it would bring the Lokpal Bill in the monsoon session of Parliament which is expected to pass it in the winter session. The all-party meeting held on the Lokpal issue damned the civil society and passed a one-line resolution: “The all-party meeting agreed that the government should bring before the next session of Parliament a strong and effective Lokpal Bill following established procedures.” The...