When a farmer named Praveen Gawankar and two neighbors began a protest four years ago against a proposed nuclear power plant here in this coastal town, they were against it mainly for not-in-my-backyard reasons. They stood to lose mango orchards, cashew trees and rice fields, as the government forcibly acquired 2,300 acres to build six nuclear reactors — the biggest nuclear power plant ever proposed anywhere. But now, as a nuclear...

A three-day Tarapur-Jaitapur anti-nuclear plant yatra was stopped the moment it began and hundreds of activists were detained at Boisar in this district on Saturday. Activists and supporters, including Justices (retired) B G Kolse-Patil and P.B. Sawant, social activist Vaishali Patil, and Admiral (retd) L Ramdas, were whisked away in police vans from Panchmarg Tarapur, where they had addressed a public meeting in the morning. They were brought to the Boisar...

The law ministry has prepared a 10-point governance reforms agenda which envisages capping a bureaucrat's term to 20 years and seeks reforms in allocation of mining and land rights. The presentation made to key UPA functionaries, including Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and Congress President Sonia Gandhi , says all new recruitments to central government jobs should be for 20 years and any extension beyond that would depend on the outcome of...

When it comes to individuals getting land allotted from the government much below market rates and without any lottery or auction, the Bhushans have always claimed to hold high standards of probity — for others. The Indian Express reported today how Shanti Bhushan and son Jayant Bhushan applied and got two 10,000 square metre Noida farmhouse plots from the Mayawati government via a process they themselves go on to question. But on...

Fresh allegations were made against the Bhushans on Wednesday after they declared their assets. Media reports are now alleging that Bhushans were allotted land by the Mayawati government. The allegations come even while Shanti Bhushan's son Jayant Bhushan was fighting a case against the UP govt and a case of conflict of interest is being made, according to Times Now. According to reports, the Bhushans didn't declare that a farmhouse given to...