Two policemen were among three persons killed and District Magistrate Deepak Agarwal got a bullet injury in fierce clashes that broke out in Greater Noida on Saturday between security personnel and agitating farmers holding three roadways employees hostage. Scores of people including an SSP were also injured when the agitation by the farmers demanding better compensation for their acquired land turned violent in Bhatta Parsaul village in Gautam Buddha Nagar district,...

Alarmed at the declining figures of female population in Maharashtra, as revealed by the provisional census of 2011, the state health department has launched a crackdown on clinics, which illegally perform sex determination tests. According to department officials, they will deploy 'Decoy Sting Operation Teams' at the district level. This team, which consists of khabris (informants), will track down clinics performing sex determination tests. Local health NGOs will also be...

It will be a major improvement over current system, says Jairam Ramesh The Union government is in the process of setting up a National Environmental Appraisal and Monitoring Authority (NEAMA) as part of efforts to bring in institutional reforms and improve environmental governance, Union Minister of State for Environment and Forests Jairam Ramesh said here on Tuesday. The Minister was delivering the second Lawrence Dana Pinkham Memorial Lecture at the convocation...

Union Minister for Environment and Forests Jairam Ramesh has granted the final forest clearance to Posco's Rs.54,000-crore integrated steel plant in Orissa, even while urging action against the sarpanch of one of the villages protesting against the project. Last month, Mr. Ramesh offered some hope to the protesting people of Dhinkia and Gobindapur by taking note of the resolutions passed by their village councils alleging that the Orissa government had failed...

The Supreme Court today refused to go into a batch of PILs challenging constitutional validity of the notification on composition of a committee to draft the Jan Lokpal bill, saying the petitions were "premature". A bench headed by Chief Justice S H Kapadia posted the matter for hearing in July. The bench said, "The petitions are premature and can't be taken as the Lokpal Bill was yet to be passed." "It is still...