The metropolis could have had five new police stations had the government accepted the recommendation of a committee on VIP security cover. A high-ranking IPS officer told TOI on Friday that the committee had recommended the reduction or withdrawal of the security cover of leading politicians. "But shockingly , chief minister Prithviraj Chavan and home minister R R Patil have rejected the recommendation for obvious political reasons," he said. Ironically, the...

August 9, 2010, Lalgarh Ramkrishna Higher Secondary School: As many as 10,000 people stand in rapt attention. Another 40,000 people are stuck on the roads leading to the venue. The speaker: Mamata Banerjee, railway minister. April 24, 2012, Lalgarh Ramkrishna Higher Secondary School: Between 2,500 and 3,000 people listen to a speech on peace and development. Some start wandering around before the 30-minute speech is wrapped up. The speaker: Mamata Banerjee, chief minister. April...

-BBC A legislator, who was kidnapped by Maoist rebels in the eastern Indian state of Orissa more than a month ago, is likely to be released on Thursday. The rebels said the decision to free Jhina Hikaka was taken at a meeting of the "praja court" (people's court). Mr Hikaka was abducted in the early hours of 24 March while returning home after attending a meeting. The government had earlier offered to free some...

Rising trends in malnutrition among children under six here and in other cities have prompted the Maharashtra government to introduce an Urban Malnutrition Mission from next month, official sources said. A quarter of children below six years in the city weighed at anganwadis are underweight, according to the latest monthly progress report (MPR) of the Integrated Child Development Services (ICDS). Non-governmental organisations point to a severe crisis of primary health...

-One World South Asia The World Bank signs an agreement with India to inject $ 352 million into the National Dairy Support Project, an initiative designed to revive the flagging fortunes of milk production in the country. Other than being crucial to the nutritional security of the country’s population; dairy farming or dairying is also a major source of livelihood for 147 million rural households in India. Spurred by the success of the...