He had been defending political dissenters since the late 1960s Eminent civil rights activist and prominent lawyer K.G. Kannabiran (81) passed away in Hyderabad after a brief illness on Thursday evening. He is survived by wife Vasanta, two daughters and a son. The last rites were performed later in the evening in the presence of family members as per his wish. Born in 1929, Mr. Kannabiran obtained master's degree in Economics and a...

Minister of State for Environment and Forests Jairam Ramesh on Wednesday ruled out review of the conditional environmental clearance given to the Jaitapur nuclear power plant in Maharashtra, and urged ‘interest groups' not to use environment as an issue to target the government. “As far as environment clearance is concerned, we have done all that is required and all different interest groups should not use environment as a shield behind which...

A day after the Raipur Additional District and Sessions Court pronounced Dr. Binayak Sen guilty of sedition and conspiracy, human rights activists and his supporters staged a protest in the Capital. A small but determined group of people gathered at the Jantar Mantar on Saturday to condemn the sentencing of Dr. Sen and the “threat” to activism in the country. Various human rights organisations, including the Human Rights Law Network, the...

On the sixth day of his indefinite fast on Wednesday, N. Chandrababu Naidu's health showed significant deterioration causing concern to Telugu Desam Party leaders and his family members. Mr. Naidu rejected numerous appeals from Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, Chief Minister N. Kiran Kumar Reddy and leaders of parties across the political spectrum, including the TDP, to call off his fast. He insisted that the government concede all his demands to provide...

The Andhra Pradesh government has begun consultations with all Political Parties to find a solution to the farmers’ crisis, the issue on which former Chief Minister N. Chandrababu Naidu has been continuing an indefinite hunger—strike for the last one week. An all party meeting, chaired by Chief Minister Chief Minister N Kiran Kumar Reddy began here, to resolve the crisis that erupted after farmers lost their crops in the recent rains. Mr....