Those living in the ravines of Dholpur love two things the most - their moustaches and arms. Grown up amidst the fear of bandits, people residing in this region say that keeping various arms at home was a 'compulsion' earlier but gradually it has become a 'status symbol' for them. Moving ahead, some of them have no hesitation in gifting arms varying from rifles to pistols to their would be...

-The Times of India   In what could spell major trouble for TDP president N Chandrababu Naidu, the AP High Court on Monday directed the CBI, Enforcement Directorate (ED) and state police to independently probe the allegations that he and his associates amassed wealth by plundering public assets. The court was responding to a petition filed last month by the late CM YS Rajasekhara Reddy's widow and YSR Congress MLA, Vijayamma. All...

The contrast could not have been starker. On one side is an English teacher leading fishermen and villagers, using his unbridled oratory to spew propaganda against Kudankulam’s ready-to-start nuclear plant that will produce 1,000MW. Arraigned against him is a group of engineers who have devoted their lives to building nuclear power plants. Affable, soft-spoken and hurt that the world’s “safest” nuclear plant that they have built has not been allowed to...

-PTI   The lead auditor of the 2G telecom audit today stuck to his stand that the loss due to spectrum allocation was Rs 2,645 crore and he had signed the final report on the alleged scam on the direction of his superiors. Appearing before the Joint Parliamentary Committee (JPC) going into the 2G issue, RP Singh, the then Director General, Audit (Post and Telecommunication), said quantification of loss was not part of...

-The Hindu   A few recommendations by the Indian Council of Forestry and Research and Education (ICFRE) have upset the National Council for Protection of Natural Resources (NCPNR), which is fighting a legal battle against illegal mining in Karnataka and Andhra Pradesh. The ICFRE which carried out a macro-level Environment Impact Assessment (EIA) study of Bellary district following a direction from the Supreme Court had submitted its report to the court recently. Recommendations such...