Inadequate socio-economic infrastructure is the major cause for the backwardness of Muslims in 90 districts, which has a concentration of the community, across the country, according to a survey conducted by the Indian Council of Social Science Research (ICSSR). In its interim report submitted to the Union Ministry for Minority Affairs, the ICSSR said lack of access to educational institutions, inadequate number of educational institutions, a low literacy rate among parents...

Conflicting recollections on Bhopal tragedy highlight need to make old government papers public I was on the last unaffected train out of Bhopal that night, or so I was told. It was the Dakshni Express from Hyderabad to Delhi. There was nothing unusual at the station and next day in Delhi, I went through an entire working day unaware of that night’s news. It was not the age of 24x7 television...

The state government is in the process of introducing a land lease policy whereby landowners can lease out land for setting up windmill projects in the state. The policy would help in resolving various issues between companies and landowners and is expected to expedite the process of setting up windmill projects. As per the draft policy, landowners would continue to be the owners of the land, unlike in many cases...

In the first study of its kind, a group of scientists will map climate change vulnerability in all the north-eastern states of India. The study, to be completed by end-July, will focus on threats to agriculture, forestry, water and livelihood resulting from climate change in the fragile region. The study will be conducted jointly by scientists from the Indian Institute of Science (IISc) in Bangalore, Jadavpur University, the Indian Institute of Technology...

Udupi district is in the last row of order in implementing the provisions of Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme (MGNREGS) in the entire State.  The issue was surfaced amidst heated arguments in the Udupi Zilla Panchayat general body meet held here on Tuesday. Congress members Raju Poojary and Janardhan Thonse raised the issue and accused that the squad introduced to evaluate the success ratio of the programme, has...