Chhattisgarh tribals punished for exercising rights under Panchayat (Extension to Scheduled Areas) Act It was unconstitutional, violation of PESA, says petition It was pushed by local administration, politicians to set up thermal power plant One morning in March 2010, residents of Premnagar awoke to discover they were villagers no more. An administrative notification had dissolved Premnagar's village council or gram panchayat and replaced it with a city council or nagar panchayat. Unbeknownst to...

If the price rise is due to production shortfall, how does one explain the near doubling of the price within a few days? The sharply rising onion prices have raised the suspicion that speculators are manipulating a shortage situation. First, a few facts. In retail markets, onion prices have soared from Rs 10-11 per kg in June to as high as Rs 70-80 on Dec 21. Even more significantly, prices zoomed by...

“Show sensitivity to recognise disaffection among tribal societies” “Terrorism can become an internal intruding problem also” Violence against women and elderly is growing: Prime Minister Terrorism, Naxalism, communalism, and management of law in metropolitan cities have thrown up immense challenges to the law and order machinery, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh cautioned over the week end . Pointing out that the tribal areas of central India were in the grip of Naxalite menace, Dr. Singh...

Volume of silk production may be on the decline in traditional silk cultivating areas in Southern Karnataka districts, thanks to rapid URBANISATION and industrialisation. But Central Silk Board's efforts to popularise sericulture in northern Karnataka districts is paying off, board chairperson H. Hanumantappa has said.Speaking to presspersons after inaugurating the “Silk Mark Expo” here on Wednesday, Mr. Hanumantappa said that farmers in Belgaum, Bidar, Bijapur, Bagalkot, Gulbarga, Gadag and Haveri...

Asian governments, battling soaring food inflation, are pumping ever more resources into agriculture but will struggle to offset rapidly expanding demand in top consumers China and India. China, stung by consumer prices running at a 25-month peak, has been selling state stockpiles. It has also ordered banks to urgently offer support to farmers, an example of the sort of firepower these governments can deploy. With China and India also in many cases...