-Eastern Panorama   It’s been almost two months since a 6.9 magnitude earthquake left the Himalayan state of Sikkim devastated. Nine families of Ralak village in Tingchim Mangshilla Gram Panchayat in the North District of Sikkim are still living in make shift relief camps with the mothers cuddling their children under blankets to give them comfort and warmth in the cold November nights. As snow has already covered the mountains visible from...

On September 18, Bimola Rai’s world was reduced to rubble. A student of Class III in Bop village in Chungthang block of North District in Sikkim, a Himalayan border state, she was left traumatized when a devastating earthquake of 6.9 magnitude on the Richter scale, flattened her home and school building, located at an altitude of 5,500 feet. Today, Bimola joins 26 other children of her village to walk the four...

Interview with Teesta Setalvad of Citizens for Justice and Peace. TEESTA SETALVAD, through her organisation Citizens for Justice and Peace, has been at the forefront of the fight for justice for the victims of the 2002 communal riots in Gujarat. She has also worked extensively on many other issues affecting minority communities in the State. In this interview to Frontline, she speaks about Chief Minister Narendra Modi's new tactics and the marginalisation...

-The Economic Times A panel set up by the Supreme Court to investigate Karnataka's illegal mining mess has made some important recommendations. It says 49 licences are patently illegal and should be scrapped.  Another 72 mining companies should be fined for operating outside sanctioned areas. It also asks for Karnataka's iron ore output to be capped at 30 million tonnes, down a third from its 45-million-tonne level till the court banned all...

Foreign companies affected by 2G verdict can invoke investment treaties The cancellation of the Unified Access Service Licence with 2G spectrum to telecom companies by the Supreme Court is celebrated as a triumph of the rule of law over jobbery and nepotism. Amidst this celebration, it is pertinent to understand the ramifications of the ruling. Since it affects foreign companies like Telenor of Norway, Sistema of Russia, and Etisalat of the...