It was all chaos at the government civil hospital in Amravati in western Vidarbha when seven women, who had delivered babies and were recuperating in the maternity ward, fell sick after being administered phenyl instead of vitamin tonic on Wednesday. According to reports, staff nurse Baby Pendam, who was meant to give the tonic, delegated the task to an attendant/cleaner Shobha Ingle, who did not realise that what she was...

Some time before the Manmohan Singh regime imploded in the mass of corruption scandals that are currently regaling television audiences, Manish Tiwari, the Congress member of parliament and spokesperson, was participating in a televised programme on political parties and their attitudes to corruption. Someone asked why the Congress had given a parliamentary ticket to Mohammed Azharuddin, the former Indian cricket captain found guilty of match-fixing and banned for life from...

The Tatas pulled out of Singur; the Salims of Indonesia out of Nandigram. What is still ticking is the Jindals’ Rs-35,000-crore, 10-million-tonne steel plant at Salboni. It has the potential to churn out the first industrial success story for whoever captures power in West Bengal after May 13. Along with the steel plant, a 1,000-MW power project to is coming up. At one point, Salboni had appeared to have the makings of...

Death toll in clash between farmers and police rises to four The farmers' agitation in Uttar Pradesh over land acquisition spread to Agra and Aligarh on Sunday. Saturday witnessed clashes between farmers and police at Bhatta-Parsaul village in Greater Noida and the death toll in the violence went up to four on Sunday. Two policemen and a farmer were killed on Saturday. Meanwhile, the State government, in a bid to play...

To restore the lost pride in the endosulfan issue, the Congress is planning to come up with a comprehensive rehabilitation package for the endosulfan victims of Kasargod when the UDF comes to power. The top leadership of the party in the state is of the view that the Stockholm Convention and the Central Government’s stand on the issue did not give due importance to the rehabilitation package and also into the...