-The Economic Times   A group of ministers formed to approve the draft mining Bill, has agreed to earmark 100% of the royalty paid by major mineral mining companies , to compensate people displaced by such projects. The panel, chaired by finance minister Pranab Mukherjee , which met on Thursday , also agreed to earmark 26% of the profit made by coal mining companies, in favour of people directly affected ,...

-Express News Service   On the eve of the meeting of a high-level Congress panel on UPA flagship monitoring, party general secretary Digivijaya Singh has written a letter to Union Rural Development Minister Vilasrao Deshmukh seeking action into the alleged NREGA scam in Sonbhadra district. In his letter, a copy of which has been marked to Chief Minister Mayawati, Singh has asked for strict actions against officials involved in the “NREGA scam...

  A three-member of team of the National Commission for Protection of Child Rights led by Dr Yogesh Dubuey on Monday visited the proposed Posco steel plant site near Paradip and made an on-the-spot investigation into the alleged use of children by Posco Pratirodh Sangram Samiti (PPSS), an anti-displacement forum in the protest blockade for more than three weeks. The team also visited Badagabapur transit camp and interacted with members of...

Scene I: Rows of paediatric beds (cots) lie abandoned outside a ward where babies, children and mothers are jostling for space at MR Bangur Hospital in Calcutta’s Tollygunge. Scene II: A Group D employee relaxes on a bed meant for a sick baby in the paediatric ward at Barasat District Hospital, North 24-Parganas. No doctor visible at the emergency ward where, too, beds lie vacant. July 3: Part of the reason for...

An unholy nexus between various healthcare providers, including doctors and private hospitals, has become a stumbling block in delivering benefits to the people at a time when Dispur is pumping in huge funds to bring improvement in the health sector. This was revealed in a multiple-stage survey conducted by Consumer Unity & Trust Society International, a reputed NGO. The survey has found that the government’s various welfare schemes like providing free medicines...