Union rural development minister Jairam Ramesh admitted lapses of the past but spoke of a new beginning today in Saranda while unveiling an action plan for the forest region that was under the shadow of Maoist terror for over a decade. Armed with goodies like bicycles and transistor radios for residents of Chotanagra panchayat, about 120km from district headquarters of Chaibasa, Ramesh made it clear that the implementation of the development...

Yerra Srilakshmi was an IAS topper but has added another feather to her cap, although a dubious one. She is the first woman IAS officer to be arrested for alleged corruption. The 1988-batch officer, held yesterday in connection with the mining case involving the Obulapuram Mining Company (OMC), owned by arrested former Karnataka minister and mining baron Gali Janardhan Reddy, was today remanded in CBI custody for three days by a local...

-The Indian Express   The breakthrough that the joint anti-Naxal operations achieved in West Bengal last week, in the Kishenji encounter, was preceded by a visible regress in the battle against the Maoists in the state. This step back was the result of a hesitation on the part of West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee to pursue the police and paramilitary operations which had begun to yield gains in the last days...

-The Times of India Promotion of organized retail and contract farming to improve farm production and modernize the agriculture supply chain as well as direct marketing initiatives are among the highlights of the report on consumer affairs prepared by a group of chief ministers chaired by Gujarat CM Narendra Modi.  In a report submitted to Prime Minister Manmohan Singh in March, the committee headed by Modi prioritized reducing farm gate to retail...

Large farm lobbies are backing the government's decision to allow foreign supermarkets to set up shop in the country, saying it will shorten the supply chain and get growers a larger share of the final selling price.  Most farmers, however, want the government to go a step further and make it mandatory for retailers to buy 75% of their produce directly from farmers, bypassing the restrictive 'mandi' auction system.  "Traders and middlemen...