Prime Minister Manmohan Singh has assured a delegation of TDP-Left parties combine that he would look into the issue of alleged suicide by farmers in Andhra Pradesh who were severely affected in the unprecedented rains and cyclonic storm in the last few months in the State. The delegation highlighted the plight of farmers who were hit as their produce like paddy, cotton, tobacco, red gram, chillies and oil seeds were damaged/discoloured...

“To make democracy function effectively, we must have inclusive growth. Microfinance has given a choice to those who were earlier excluded from the traditional institutional mode of finance. Since more than 80 per cent of Indian farmers do not get loans from such institutions, emergence of micro-finance has been beneficial to the rural poor.” Dr Amiya Sharma, executive director of the Rastriya Gramin Vikash Nidhi (RGVN) opined this at the fourth...

Prime Minister Manmohan Singh on Tuesday released Rs.400 crore for the Andhra Pradesh government as advance from the National Calamity Contingency Fund to take up immediate relief and rehabilitation measures in the State that were affected by unprecedented rains and cyclonic storms in the last few months. Dr. Singh told a delegation of over 20 Congress MPs that the Centre would take speedy action on the reports of the Central team...

Lobbyist Niira Radia , who’s in the eye of major storm over her taped telephonic conversations with a wide variety of people, including politicians, corporates and journalists, was on Tuesday grilled by the CBI over her alleged involvement in swinging commercial deals which smacked of a quid pro quo. A three-member CBI team subjected Radia to an intense questioning at her Chhatarpur farmhouse in south Delhi this morning. The interrogation, which...

IT WAS a windfall five years ago that taught Panchali Satyavva the power of a lie. It happened one Monday afternoon in Someshwar village of Nizamabad district in Andhra Pradesh. It was raining in sheets and she had just placed a bucket under the steady trickle of water from the roof of her hut. Two men were at her door, holding umbrellas and offering her an unsolicited Rs. 5,000. They...