Over 90 Kilometres south-east of capital Ranchi towards the Chandil dam are 48 villages residing 50,000 people for whom the prevailing drought has turned out to be a boon.The dam is an ambitious World Bank project meant to irrigate fields in Jharkhand, Orissa and West Bengal. These villages are declared 'to-be submerged villages'. In order to store water up to 180 meters above sea level to fight drought, the state irrigation...

A relief of Rs 94.93 crore will be paid to farmers whose crops were damaged in the recent floods in Haryana. This figure has been calculated as per the state norms on the basis of damage to crops assessed through a special girdawari. This was revealed at a meeting of the state-level committee constituted to administer the Haryana Calamity Relief Fund, which was chaired by Chief Secretary Urvashi Gulati here today. She directed...

Former Union Panchayat Raj Minister Mani Shankar Aiyar, lately in the news for denouncing the Commonwealth Games, is aiming his guns much closer to the UPA government’s heart, at the way it is implementing the flagship National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (NREGA). He is joining forces with like-minded critics of the Sonia Gandhi-led National Advisory Council (NAC) such as economist-actvist Jean Dreze to drive home the fact that its basic promises...

The violent agitation by farmers in western Uttar Pradesh spread further on Tuesday, despite the state government's offer of more money as compensation for land acquired for the 165 km long Noida-Agra Expressway. While the agitating farmers of Aligarh and Mathura rejected the government's offer, farmers in neighbouring Agra district also began protesting on Tuesday. Under pressure from agitating farmers and political parties, the Mayawati government on Monday night increased the total...

In a major setback to the encroachers, the district administration has begun reclaiming land worth hundreds of crores of rupees from different areas of the city. Buildings constructed illegally on agricultural land along National Highway 8 were razed on Monday, while notices were issued to other encroachers. According to district administration, hundreds of acres of land given for agricultural purpose was misused by the owners and sold off illegally. The...