A group of villagers, instigated by Maoists looking to establish a role for themselves in Pachuara village’s dealings with a mining company set up there, murdered Sister Valsa John as they perceived her to be an obstacle in their designs, the police have concluded. Seven of those villagers have been arrested, including Advin Murmu, who is also accused of raping an associate of the Sister, said IG of Santhal Pargana Arun...

State oil firms are under the scanner of the Comptroller & Auditor General of India for supplying diesel at a discount to defense establishments and Indian Railways and claim compensation on the revenue loss from upstream companies and the government. Executives in state-run Indian Oil Corp, Hindustan Petroleum and Bharat Petroleum have accepted that they offer small discounts to these customers and denied recovering any part of the amount from the...

-The Hindu   MSSRF signs MoU with Marg Limited Food inflation could not be tackled in a generic way but has to be broken down and examined commodity by commodity, said M.S. Swaminathan, agricultural scientist. After signing MoU with Marg Limited on a partnership to provide knowledge connectivity to empower rural communities, Prof. Swaminathan said it was the price of vegetables, pulses, oil seeds, potatoes, onions and fruits that were climbing up and not...

-The Hindu   The United Progressive Alliance government has not delivered on its promise of bringing in legislation against communal violence. After initial talks, the Centre has fallen silent on the Prevention of Communal and Targeted Violence (Access to Justice and Reparations) Bill which needs speedy tabling, a panel comprising drafters of the legislation said at a meeting here on Friday. “Not just the leadership, but the Executive too have failed to give...

-The Economic Times   What should be the agenda for national renewal? Should we discuss what should be done in individual sectors like agriculture, infrastructure, energy, etc., and plead before the rulers of modern democracy to accept some of our suggestions or should we focus on the decision-making processes itself, which exist in governance today? Who takes decisions in our 'democracy'? Who influences these decisions? Are these processes really democratic? Is lack of...