-The Telegraph   Excerpts from the draft of the Singur Land Rehabilitation and Development Bill, 2011, which was circulated among MLAs on Monday. Whereas it is expedient to provide for taking over of the land covered by the lease granted to Tata Motors Limited for the sole purpose of Small Car Manufacturing project and letters of allotment issued to the Vendors as recommended by Tata Motors Limited in view of non-commissioning and...

Indian women don't believe in donating blood. According to the first ever data bank on gender distribution of blood donors, India has among the lowest number of female blood donors in the world. Compiled by the World Health Organisation, the data bank says that of the 4.6 million donations in 2008, only 6% donations were by women. The rest 94% were male donors. There were only 13 countries including India among the...

unpaid bills of Rs 17,000 crore — and growing — have revealed hidden food subsidies and acute financial mismanagement as the government prepares to adopt the costliest, most ambitious legislation of its tenure. Documents accessed by Hindustan Times reveal this is the money the government now owes the state-run Food Corporation of India (FCI), hampering its mammoth operation of buying grain from the farmer, storing it and selling it cheaply...

The passport office in Hyderabad reported the highest number of passport applications recorded in Indian history (at least 450,000) and it expects an increase of 15-20% this year Jamuna Kunta sits stiffly in a plush red chair at the Hyderabad press club, holding her head proudly erect as she quietly recounts the events leading to her husband’s suicide in Dubai. A farmer from Karimnagar, a rural district in Andhra Pradesh, her husband...

Joint drafting panel on Lokpal Bill holds second meeting; public consultations after agreement on basic principles In the second round of discussions in the joint drafting committee on the Lokpal Bill here on Monday, members of civil society invoked the United Nations Convention on Corruption to stress that the underlying principle of the anti-corruption law should be to have an independent body that covers the highest executive and the judiciary. The...