Environmentalists may be against the state government’s proposal to set up new ports along the coast, but experts feel that the state needs these facilities badly to make the most of the cargo boom expected in the next 10 years. They have also extended support to chief minister Naveen Patnaik’s campaign against the Centre’s bid to restrict the powers of coastal states and union territories with regard to determining the jurisdiction...

When the children of brick kiln workers approached Majlispur Free Primary School in North 24 Parganas for admission, the school authorities refused to do so as the children were unable to produce birth certificates. When the parents wrote to the District Inspector (DI), Schools, for children’s admission under Right to Education (RTE) Act, they were told no such thing as RTE existed. At Hindu Balika Vidyalaya at Contai in East Midnapore...

Jagatsinghpur: As many as one hundred NREGA job card holders from Baramunduli Panchayat under Balikuda block on Tuesday staged Dharana in front of Balikuda block office protesting delay in getting wage. Report said that a road project Baghaipur to Jainla was under taken in NREGA, about 300 selected job card holders had deployed in the work ironically after completion of the work the job card holders are yet to get...

Twenty percent of people in the country's most populous city are below the poverty line (BPL). For Mumbai's population of about 1.25 crore, that means 25 lakh BPL people. This makes the number of those living in abject poverty in the city 4 lakh more than the population of say Nashik. The BPL figure comes from a survey carried out by the BMC in 2005-06 . The criterion was an income...

The next 72 hours will be crucial for the state as it battles to keep its head above rising floodwaters in the Mahanadi basin. Authorities kept an anxious watch on the situation today as Hirakud town was cut off from Sambalpur and the Pipli-Konark road was closed with several rivers still in spate. The government directed collectors of the 19 flood-hit districts to close down schools and colleges in the marooned...