The struggle had asserted the right of the people to their land, water and forests “In the Narmada valley/The fight is still on” – thus sang the people of Bhadal in Madhya Pradesh, where Narmada Bachao Andolan (NBA) leader Medha Patkar was heading a prayer meeting as part of the activities marking the completion of 25 years of the people's movement. Rallies, meetings, folk songs and dances formed part of the struggle...

Use of verbal autopsy may result in many false positives: WHO Malaria has symptoms similar to many other diseases It cannot be correctly identified by local population Expressing serious doubts over the high estimates of 200,000 malaria deaths in India as reported in the latest edition of The Lancet, the World Health Organisation (WHO) on Thursday questioned the methodology adopted by the authors of the study. The Lancet uses verbal autopsy method which is...

Punjab Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal and the farm lobby reacted sharply today to the Centre’s announcement of the Minimum Support Price for Wheat. The Centre yesterday had announced a nominal hike of Rs 20 in the MSP, fixing it at Rs 1,120 per quintal. Describing it as a ‘stab in the back’, the Punjab CM claimed that the MSP fixed for wheat is lower than the rate at which the...

Nearly 63 years after Independence, a village situated on a hillock near Indore, got its first ever electricity connection. Koparwel, a tiny village with 20 households, broke into jubilation with the lighting of a bulb in one of its huts this Friday. Ambaram is the first villager to get the electricity connection. No sooner was his house brightened by a CFL bulb, villagers worshipped the instrument, distributed "prasad" and burst firecrackers. "It is a...

The Kisan Swaraj Yatra, a countrywide rally of farmers questioning the corporatisation of rural farms, reached the city on Sunday morningfrom Ralegaon Siddhi after covering 20 states over 71 days. The rally has demanded an explanation on the socio-cultural, environmental and political ramifications of such rampant corporatisation. It has modelled itself after Gandhi’s Dandi March. The march, that began on October 2 at Sabarmati, will end at Rajghat on December 11....