West Bengal: The murder of two CPI(M) leaders in Bardhaman district points to an increase in political violence in the State. THE brutal murder of Pradip Tah, a former legislator belonging to the Communist Party of India (Marxist), or the CPI(M), and Kamal Gayen, another senior leader of the party, in broad daylight, allegedly by Trinamool Congress supporters, in West Bengal's Bardhaman district on February 22 once again points to an...

A day before he was killed in broad daylight on Wednesday, former CPI(M) MLA Pradip Tah had filed an official complaint with Superintendent of Police, Burdwan, S N Mirza stating that his life was under threat. He named 10 men, all reportedly Trinamool Congress members, of whom eight were later named in the murder complaint filed by Tah’s brother, Prabir Tah. In his complaint, a copy of which is with The...

For a change, Mangal Bedia did not board a crammed bus today and travel 15km to withdraw his old-age pension from a bank. The 70-year-old from Dohakatu village in Ramgarh district, along with 100-odd fellow elders, became the first citizens to access old-age pension by using their Aadhaar numbers with handheld ATMs on the doorstep. The banking service reached their village, thanks to the Unique Identification Authority of India (UIDAI). Until today,...

Mohammad Aamir had just turned 18, when one February day in 1998, he was ambushed by a police van. A month later, he found himself thrown against the cold, forbidding walls of a prison cell in the capital's Tihar jail. The charges were murder, terrorism and waging war against the nation. Aamir, released in January this year after 14 years, was named the main accused in 20 low-intensity bomb blasts executed...

-IANS A day-long shutdown began in Andhra Pradesh Monday on a call given by Dalit groups to protest the recent desecration of statues of B.R. Ambedkar. Schools, colleges, shops and business establishments remained closed in many districts while protestors blocked roads to stop Buses of state-owned Andhra Pradesh State Road Transport Corporation (APSRTC). Student organistaions, especially Osmania University student Joint Action Committee has also called for a shutdown to protest the desecration of...