After forming syndicates, the liquor mafia in Nizamabad district is now targeting young workers of Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme ( MGNREGS) to rake in more moolah. Towards this end, the powerful mafia succeeded by roping in village development committees (VDCs) to help them open more belt shops in villages. Though it was illegal, a majority of these belt shops are being run in residential colonies, slum areas and...

The Income Tax Department has handed over to the CBI tapes of a fresh set of an estimated 15,000 conversations of intercepted telephone calls which could widen the scope of the agency’s probe in the 2G scam and spell trouble for corporate lobbyist Niira Radia. The 15,000 conversations involve two alleged Delhi-based hawala dealers Anil Bansal and R S Bansal whose phones were put on surveillance along with those of Radia...

A court on Wednesday put on trial the first set of officials and businessmen indicted in the country's biggest corruption case, a multi-billion dollar telecoms scandal that has weakened the government and put off some foreign investors. The graft scandal is one of several to have emerged in the past few months, tarnishing the reputation of Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, whose government has gone on the defensive against an emboldened opposition. While...

The only difference is in revenue loss, which the investigating agency CBI put at Rs.30,984 crore The Central Bureau of Investigation's first charge sheet in the 2G spectrum allocation scam is almost identical to what the Comptroller and Auditor-General of India (CAG) said, except for the figure of revenue loss, which the CBI has put at Rs.30,984 crore. The CBI agrees with the CAG audit findings that the former Telecom Minister, A....

What can make a real difference to food prices is determined international action to increase food production in regions that are richly endowed with land and water resources High food inflation has been the source of major concern in India for more than a year. Soaring food prices have been the cause of unease internationally as well. A Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) press release of 3 March, 2011 indicates that...