11 postmen held for taking unauthorised commission Money involved is huge, says official The Central Bureau of Investigation on Monday unearthed a major scam in the disbursement of Old Age Pension (OAP) to senior citizens. Besides irregularities in the payout, investigators found that a majority of postmen took Rs. 20 as unauthorised commission from the beneficiaries. After a surprise check, special teams of the Anti-Corruption Branch arrested eleven postmen, including a woman, agency...

Although a favourable monsoon this year brought cheers to farmers after last year's drought-like situation, rodents have taken away their sleep invading one paddy field after another across the half of Nagaland. Official reports said standing crops in Mokokchung and Wokha districts, where summer crops have been the mainstay, were destroyed by rats. The situation is alarming as swarms of rat invading fields and devouring crops in the nights have been reported...

The country is set to emulate Gujarat in tracking pregnant women and children on a continuing basis through a constant monitoring of their health, nutrition and immunisation profile. Twenty-three officials of health and family welfare departments and National Informatics Centre (NIC) from eight states are participating in a three-day training workshop to familiarise themselves with the Gujarat Model of what is now popularly known as 'E-MAMta', an official spokesperson said here...

Mayawati's quick reflexes after the setback over land acquisition in Aligarh has put Congress in a spot, with the Centre fearing it may be dubbed the villain for farmers' woes if it does not prevail upon Trinamool Congress to relent on the bills for Land Acquisition amendment and R&R. After Uttar Pradesh brought its liberal Resettlement and Rehabilitation policy to win over farmers riled by "low land rates" for Yamuna...

As many as 22 girl students of Kasturba Gandhi Awasiya Vidyalaya, Marihan in Mirzapur district, were admitted to community health centre (CHC) on Monday, after they fell ill, allegedly after consuming stale and spurious food served in the school. District magistrate, Samyukta Samaddar sent a team of officials to probe into the matter. According to reports, a number of girl students (aged between 11 and 13 years) had consumed stale...