The issues relating to the victims of endosulfan, sprayed in the plantations of Kasargod district in Kerala, have snowballed once again. “Earthworms emerged from the soil, and, subsequently, died. Then birds came to eat the earthworms and they died as well.”   “Some termites were killed in a cotton farm sprayed with endosulfan. A frog fed on the dead termites, and was immobilised a few minutes later. An owl which flew over...

The village bureaucrat shifted from foot to foot, hands clasped behind his back, beads of sweat forming on his balding head. The eyes of hundreds of wiry village laborers, clad in dusty lungis, were fixed upon him. A group of auditors, themselves villagers, read their findings. A signature had been forged for the delivery of soil to rehabilitate farmland. The soil had never arrived, and about $4,000 was missing. The...

With the government-Opposition standoff over a joint parliamentary committee probe into the 2G spectrum scam entering its 14th day, supplementary demand for grants amounting to spending of Rs 45,000 crore were passed without debate by Lok Sabha on Wednesday amid noisy disruptions. Both sides blamed the other for massive spending being decided without debate, with a repeat expected in the upper House on Thursday. Supplementary demands related to railways are expected...

Short films play an important role in dissemination of information: Vijay Mallya Short films on environmental issues ‘Niyamgiri You Are Still Alive,' directed by Suma Josson, and ‘Kaippad,' directed by Babu Kambrath, were declared joint winners of ‘The Vasudha Award,' the country's only government award for an environmental film, on Tuesday. The award instituted by the Short Film Centre (SFC) at the International Film Festival of India (IFFI) carried a Cash prize...

The Cabinet on Tuesday decided to raise the pension paid to Endosulfan victims who are unable to perform any form of wage labour from Rs. 1,000 to Rs. 2,000 a month. Briefing reporters after the weekly Cabinet meeting here on Tuesday, Chief Minister V.S. Achuthanandan said the other Endosulfan victims would be paid Rs.1,000 as pension. The pension would be made available to the victims through the Social Security Mission under...