Social activist Swami Agnivesh phoned Chhattisgarh chief minister Raman Singh, briefed him on his travel plans, and then embarked on a trip to the three villages allegedly burnt by the police in Dantewada. But he still could not get there. Along with his co-travellers, two teachers of 'Art of Living', he was physically obstructed and abused by a crowd on Saturday morning at Dornapal town, roughly 50 kilometres short of the...

In letters to Prime Minister, he pitches for the project to continue and vouches for rehabilitation Digvijay urged Manmohan to get Environment Ministry to withdraw order suspending work He also said the State had made substantial progress in rehabilitation While he seldom misses an opportunity to attack the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party government in Madhya Pradesh, documents recently accessed through the Right to Information Act show that the former Chief Minister and AICC...

The Union Cabinet on Tuesday cleared a proposal, seeking an amendment to the Indian Forest Act (IFA) that aims to put an end to harassment of tribals for petty cases. The proposal sought amendment to Section 68 of IFA, 1927, which deals with the power of forest officials to compound offences. The proposed amendment aims to increase the financial limit of the power to compound a forest offence up to an...

FAO's first forecast for world wheat production in 2011 stands at 676 million tonnes, representing a growth of 3.4 percent from 2010, the March 2011 edition of the Crop Prospects and Food Situation report said today. This level would still be below the bumper harvests in 2008 and 2009. Wheat plantings in many countries have increased or are expected to increase this year in response to strong prices, while yield recoveries...

The quashing of the appointment of P.J. Thomas as the CVC shows the judiciary can go beyond the express provisions of law to render justice. THE Indian Constitution does not envisage strict separation of powers among the three branches of the government – the executive, the legislature and the judiciary. This flexibility permits marginal incursions though one branch cannot usurp the essential functions of the other. One of the essential functions...