-DNA   Faustina Mary Fatima Rani, better known as Bama, never wanted to become a writer. But she found solace and a friend in a pen after witnessing the marginalisation of Dalits in society. Already rejected and humiliated, the behaviour of upper castes towards Dalits in her a strong desire to work for the betterment of her community. As the second edition of her book - Kurukku -- was launched at the National Colloquium...

India records the highest number of child pneumonia deaths globally, but is among the only four of the 15 countries with the highest child pneumonia death toll that is yet to introduce the newest generation of pneumoccal vaccines. A Pneumonia progress report, 2011, released by the International Access Vaccine Centre ( IVAC) and John Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health last week shows that India recorded 3.71 lakh child pneumonia deaths...

-The Hindu   V. Narayanasamy, Minister of State in the Prime Minister's Office, said on Saturday that the anti-Kudankulam Nuclear Power Project (KKNP) agitation was being funded by foreign agencies. “We've already started investigation to unmask the foreign agencies actually funding the ongoing agitation against KKNPP even after the nuclear reactors' safety has been ensured by installing futuristic state-of-the-art safety features,” he told reporters here. The country, which would be in need of 4.50...

-The Hindu   Coordinator of the Anti Kudankulam Nuclear Power Project movement, S.P. Udhayakumar, has decided to file defamation case against Union Minister of State for Prime Minister's Office, V. Narayanasamy, for alleging that the protesters were getting money from foreign countries to stop commissioning of the plant. Speaking to reporters here on Saturday, he said that the Congress was supporting the commissioning of the plant. “They are terming us anti-nationals only for...

As the local people determinedly continue to resist the commissioning of the Kudankulam reactors, the statements of the nuclear establishment have acquired a desperate edge. The chief of the Nuclear Power Corporation of India Limited (NPCIL) claimed that a “foreign hand” was behind the protests. The former President, A.P.J. Abdul Kalam, while assuring the locals that the reactors were “100% safe,” also wrote an article in The Hindu (“Special Essay,”...