-The Times of India MUMBAI: Several persons with disabilities (PWDs) who crack one of the toughest exams in the country and get selected for the civil services are routinely rejected with the government claiming there is no suitable service for them. They are good enough to overcome their disability and get selected for the civil services after clearing two levels of exams and the interview, but the Department of Personnel and...

-The Indian Express Mumbai: The Maharashtra government has directed sugar factories to pay a minimum price of Rs 2,650 per quintal for sugarcane to defuse the ongoing farmers' agitation that has stalled the functioning of sugar factories across the state. In the LIGht of the announcement, State Minister for Cooperation and Markets Harshvardhan Patil has urged Swabhimani Shetkari Sanghatana (SSS) leader Raju Shetty (MP) to take measures to withdraw the agitation in...

-The Times of India LUCKNOW: A day after sugarcane farmer Satyapal Singh killed himself in Bastauli village of Lakhimpur Kheri, around 200 villagers stormed into the compound of Balrampur Sugar Mill's Buleria unit, protesting against the non-payment of cane arrears. The farmers, who said they intended to cremate Singh's body at the gates of the sugar mill, also vandalised the factory compound, looted the canteen and beat up the mill's chief security...

-Outlook Srikakulam: Activist Medha Patkar has opposed a nuclear power plant coming up at Kovvada village in Srikakulam district of Andhra Pradesh. "After the Fukushima incident, there is a largescale opposition to nuclear power but the Government of India is still pushing the project, apparently under the pressure of the US," alleged Patkar, convener of the National Alliance of People's Movement. She was addressing a meeting of local fishermen who are opposing the...

-The Hindu HYDERABAD / KAKINADA / ELURU: Several thousand people were evacuated from low-lying areas, standing crops in a few lakh acres were marooned and coconut trees and electric poles were uprooted in the three coastal districts of Andhra Pradesh as the severe cyclonic storm Helen made a landfall near Machilipatnam on Friday afternoon. Even after landfall, the system was expected to maintain the intensity of cyclonic storm for six hours and...