Chhattisgarh’s BJP government has decided to abstain from Planning Commission meetings in protest against the inclusion of Binayak Sen in its steering committee on health. Chief minister Raman Singh has told TV channels that an elected government cannot attend meetings where a “convict” will be present. Senior state officials, though, said that bureaucrats would be sent to plan panel meetings on financial matters such as outlays and projects. Skipping these meetings can...

Eleven years after he came to power in 2000 and regularly refuting charges of numerous scams and scandals that rocked the image of his government, Orissa chief minister and BJD president Naveen Patnaik now finds himself in the dock. After the Supreme Court’s direction on Monday for the CBI probe into the alleged `500-crore scam in the implementation of the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (MGNREGA), an eerie silence...

Giving the police a slip, Rahul Gandhi rode pillion on a motorcycle just before dawn on Wednesday to the epicentre of violent clashes in this district and met farmers protesting Uttar Pradesh government's land acquisition policy. The strong police force deployed at the Bhatta Parsaul village, which witnessed violent clashes between the police and farmers, apparently failed to notice the Congress general secretary when he reached the Delhi suburb in...

Farmers' frenzy against land acquisition spread on Sunday and singed more places in west Uttar Pradesh with the number of those killed rising to four. While 22 protesters were arrested for rioting and arson, the state government announced a reward of Rs 50,000 for information on absconding farmer leader Manveer Singh Tevetia who triggered the protests. Four policemen were injured in Agra where farmers attacked cops demanding higher compensation for their...

A Supreme Court-appointed committee finds large-scale illegal mining in Karnataka with the connivance of officials. THE issue of illegal mining in Karnataka and the large-scale corruption in political and public life resulting from it refuses to stay away from the headlines. The sordid tale of mining-linked corruption (Cover Story; Frontline, July 16, 2010) has had a few recurring characters – a beleaguered but defiant Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) Chief Minister B.S....