In post-globalisation India, middle-class heroes are usually entrepreneurs who make a fast buck, stars that glitter brightly and talk glibly, cricketers who hit the ball hard. In an aspirational world of consumer goods, fine dining and malls, values such as service, integrity, simplicity are becoming rare. Perhaps that is why the story of Binayak Sen, the skilled doctor who turned his back on material success to work among the poor...

In view of prevailing cold wave conditions in the state Chief Minister Mayawati has sanctioned Rs 3.12 crore for providing temporary shelter,food, clothes and medical facilities to the poor. The money would be used to provide bonfires, blankets and medical help to the destitutes and the homeless poor people, Government spokesman said here on Thursday. He said state government has provided Rs 1 lakh to each of the 312 tehsils of the...

Death toll rises to nine; several houses in three villages torched Fresh violence erupted along Assam-Meghalaya border areas with miscreants torching several houses in three villages and setting ablaze a truck carrying relief materials on Saturday night and Sunday. Two more persons were killed taking the death toll in ongoing ethnic clashes between the Garos and the Rabhas to nine. Of the nine lives claimed by ethnic violence, five died on Assam side...

An intense spell of cold weather has disrupted life across northern India, reportedly claiming two dozen lives. The capital, Delhi, has been badly hit by the cold snap, along with Indian-administered Kashmir, Haryana, Punjab and Uttar Pradesh. In Leh in Kashmir, temperatures dropped to -23.6C - this winter's lowest - on Sunday, weather officials said. Delhi, which is experiencing one of its coldest winters in years, has been hit by thick fog which...

Kartik Burman, 46, is a rag picker from Bengal, living near Nizamuddin in Delhi for the past 10 years. He is being enrolled for the Unique Identification Project or the UID. So when he goes out to demand a job under NREGA or get a ration card he won't have a problem. The likes of this old rag picker too are hoping for a better deal in life. Mukhtar Ahmed, homeless, says,...