With the BRT Wildlife Sanctuary in Karnataka going to get a tiger reserve status, the Soligas living there face imminent eviction.NEVER before have the tigers of the Biligiri Rangaswamy Temple (BRT) Wildlife Sanctuary burned so bright, either in popular imagination or in administrative priority. With the Union Ministry of Environment and Forests approving “in principle” the status of a tiger reserve for the BRT sanctuary, the endangered cat has taken...

Over 200 families in this district of Madhya Pradesh continue to bear the brunt of caste discrimination.Vidisha, a thriving trade centre of ancient India, finds glorious mention variously for Emperor Ashoka's governorship, for featuring in Pali scriptures and Kalidasa's romantic epic Meghdoot, as a premier tourist destination in glossy brochures of Madhya Pradesh Tourism and as the parliamentary constituency of Sushma Swaraj, the Leader of the Opposition in the Lok...

Differences between the National Advisory Council (NAC), headed by Congress party president Sonia Gandhi, and the government over the food security Bill have begun to narrow, but a suggestion by the agriculture ministry to offer cash to poor consumers in case sufficient foodgrain isn’t available remains a contentious issue.“We do not have any serious objections to the recommendations of the NAC. But the ministry wants to have the provision for...

An expert committee set up by the Prime Minister is to examine tomorrow recommendations of National Advisory Council (NAC) on the proposed National food Security Bill."In tomorrow''s meeting, we are going to discuss about the differential foodgrains entitlement scenario and the feasibility of increasing production and procurement," a senior government official told PTI.In the first meeting, there was a general discussion on the proposals made by the NAC. In tomorrow''s...

As to who should conduct the survey to identify the ‘priority' and ‘general' categories of households as recommended by the National Advisory Council (NAC) was an issue that the expert panel headed by chairman of the Prime Minister's Economic Advisory Council, C. Rangarajan, grappled with in its meeting here on Tuesday.The NAC has recommended that legal entitlements to subsidised foodgrains be extended to at least 75 per cent of the...