-The Times of India   The death toll in the powerful Sunday earthquake has increased to 40 with 19 people being killed in Sikkim, five in West Bengal, two in Bihar, seven each in Nepal and Tibet even as rescue and relief operations were stepped up in the affected areas. Over a hundred people have been injured in the 6.8 magnitude tremblor which has caused extensive damage to buildings and roads in Sikkim...

Do agencies like the Ford Foundation push their own agenda through the NGOs they support? It’s often said, tongue in cheek, that India’s “shadow” government works out of the nondescript, low-slung buildings abutting the Lodhi Garden in Delhi. That’s partly hubris, but it also stems from being close to the centre of power. This rarefied zone houses powerful “cultural” institutions like the India International Centre, as well as a host...

The Mamata Banerjee government wants the Centre to include in the draft National Land Acquisition and Rehabilitation and Resettlement Bill provisions of the Bengal’s land ceiling law, which caps holdings by industry at 24.88 acres. State cabinet sources also said the government would not accept any special economic zone (SEZ) and ask the Centre make its position clear on such enclaves, which typically require large tracts, in the bill. The recommendations were...

Reacting to the bandh in West Bengal called on Friday by various trade unions in support of a demand for wage revision of tea garden workers, Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee declared that she would ban general strikes in the state by enacting a law. Banerjee reacted sharply to the strike that caused major disruptions in public life in Jalpaiguri, Terai and Dooars region. “In the name of bandh, hooliganism is going...

-IANS   A central team that reviewed fund management under the National Rural Health Mission in Uttar Pradesh found ‘irregularity’ in award of contracts for procuring emergency medical transport services and poor quality of drugs, the Rajya Sabha was informed Tuesday. In a written reply, Minister of State Sudip Bandyopadhyay said Uttar Pradesh has ‘primary responsibility’ for implementing NRHM that aims to provide quality healthcare to people living in remote areas. The central health...