A delegation from Kerala demands nationwide ban on pesticide Prime Minister Manmohan Singh on Friday assured an all-party delegation from Kerala, led by its Health and Social Welfare Minister P.K. Sreemathy, that the Centre would await the report of the Indian Council for Medical Research (ICMR) before deciding further on the request to ban Endosulfan nationwide. He reminded the delegates that the Kerala government had already banned the pesticide in 2005....

The case of each areca grower who has taken loans from cooperative societies or banks will be studied individually to determine whether the farmer is genuinely unable to repay the loan. This decision was taken at a meeting of areca growers with Deputy Commissioner Subodh Yadav and officials of various departments on Thursday. Mr. Yadav made the suggestion after listening to a delegation of farmers, most of them members of the Karnataka...

Unfazed by controversies surrounding the Bhushans, civil society activists on Thursday rejected demands for their resignation from the joint drafting committee on Lokpal Bill but one of its members Justice Santosh Hegde said he is thinking of resigning from it. The demand for the resignation of lawyer Shanti Bhushan and his son Prashant grew on Thursday following a CFSL report that a CD allegedly involving the senior Bhushan was not tampered...

The National Human Rights Commission (NHRC) has asked the Kerala government to expedite relief measures in the form of financial and medical assistance to victims affected by the indiscriminate use of pesticide Endolsulfan, particularly in Kasaragod district. The commission directed the State government to make use of the services of a charitable trust which had volunteered to set up special schools and hospitals for Endosulfan victims. The NHRC held a meeting here...

A Supreme Court-appointed panel has found large-scale illegal mining in Karnataka, particularly in the state's iron-ore rich Bellary district. The illegal activity was taking place in connivance with officials, the Central Empowered Committee (CEC) said in its report submitted to the court in New Delhi Friday. The CEC also found that between 2003 and 2010, over 30 million tonnes of iron ore had been exported from Karnataka without valid permits. As the CEC...