75 farmers have lost their lives in Andhra Pradesh The Communist Party of India on Monday asked the Centre to declare the loss of standing and harvested crops over 75 lakh acres across three States – Andhra Pradesh, Orissa and Tamil Nadu – as a national calamity and announce compensation for it. CPI general secretary A.B. Bardhan, in a letter to Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, drew attention to the huge loss suffered...

Carry red Chilli spray to feel safe in Delhi, a doctor and her 28 friends are telling women.Through camps in colleges and neighbourhoods, the group has over the past fortnight been spreading awareness about the use of Chilli powder as a weapon of self-defence.“Carry a pack of red Chillies in the bag and blind an assailant,” said Seema Malik, a doctor who has launched the Mirchi Jhonk campaign, possibly inspired...

It is quite likely that a few weeks from now someone will be knocking at your doors and asking for your fingerprints. If you agree, your fingerprints will enter a national database, along with personal characteristics (age, sex, occupation, and so on) that have already been collected from you, unless you were missed in the “Census household listing” earlier this year. The purpose of this exercise is to build the National...

State wants Centre to bear 25% of the cost Centre had earlier rejected the scheme The State government has resubmitted its project for distribution of essential commodities through ration shops to the Centre for assistance and proposes to lobby for it strongly. The project envisages distribution of 13 items, such as green gram, Bengal gram, split gram, coriander and Chillies, through the ration shops in the State at subsidised rates. The State wants...

A charred piece of earth and some bits of bones are the only signs of a dastardly killing in the name of honour. No other evidence remains of the spine-Chilling crime to mar the rustic charm of Maalaipatti village, perched among the green mountains of the Western Ghats in Dindigul district. On July 28, 2008, a few days after being chained in a bathroom and treated like a rabid dog...