Faced with protests by farmers demanding higher compensation for land acquired for a township along the Taj Expressway, the Mayawati government on Tuesday decided to hike the price offered to them by 20 per cent at Rs 570 per square metre. A team of top state officials led by state CABinet secretary Sashankh Sekhar Singh and some senior ministers of the Mayawati government held parleys with farmer leaderRam Babu Kateria...

The CABinet Committee on Economic Affairs today approved the expansion of the ongoing Centrally Sponsored Scheme ‘Livestock Health and Disease Control’ by adding four new components and enlarging the scope of the existing Foot and Mouth Disease Control Programme from 54 Districts to 221 districts. The new components to be added are: (i) National Animal Disease Reporting System (ii) National Control Programme on Peste des Petits Ruminants, (iii) National Control Programme on Brucellosis and (iv) Establishment and...

The public outcry over illegal mining has compelled the government to set up a commission of inquiry into illegal mining of manganese and iron ore. The proposal, cleared by the CABinet on Monday, will look into individual allegations of illegal mining. The inquiry commission will submit its final report in 18 months. It will also produce interim reports. While commission will investigate past cases of illegal mining, its findings could...

Trouble erupted at Jikarpur, near Aligarh, on Saturday night after rumours spread that a farmer leader had been arrested near the village. Police opened fire to disperse the violent protesters and bring the situation under control, said SSP (Aligarh) Vijay Prakash, who was transferred on Sunday. B.D. Palson, SSP of Mathura, which too was hit by the violence, was also shifted. Two persons and a PAC jawan were killed and nine injured in...

The NAC suggests steps to ensure food security, but its recommendation for ‘selective universalisation' of the PDS is criticised. INDIA is home to some 230 million undernourished people – that is, 27 per cent of all undernourished people in the world. Worse still, more than half of all child deaths in India are because of malnutrition, and over 1.5 million children in the country are at the risk of being malnourished...