-Live Mint   Congress general secretary Digvijay Singh on Wednesday released a letter written by the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) to social activist Anna Hazare, to buttress his earlier claim that Hazare’s anti-corruption movement was backed by the RSS. “In your efforts against corruption, you have the full support of RSS,” stated the letter dated 8 April, written by RSS general secretary Suresh Joshi. “We think that the ongoing efforts and movements against...

PALNAR/SAMELI (DANTEWADA): They sat watching cartoons on TV a day after their mother was arrested in faraway Delhi on charges of acting as a conduit/courier for Maoists.  While adivasi school teacher Soni Sori faces police interrogation in Chhattisgarh for her role in an alleged pay off by Essar group to Maoists, her children, Muskaan (12), Deependera (10) and Amrita (6) are at their uncle Ramdev's house in Palnar village for a...

-The Times of India   With the Bhilwara pattern social audit of schemes under the MGNREGA shelved in the state, the alternative method is also coming under political pressure. A recent application under the Right to Information (RTI) Act has revealed letters from a minister and an MLA urging the social audit directorate not to conduct audit of MGNREGA (Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act) schemes in villages falling in their constituencies....

On September 18 an earthquake of the magnitude of 6.8 by the Richter scale struck Sikkim at about 6.18 pm The epicentre of the quake was located about 67 kms north-west of Gangtok—the State capital. The epicenter was located to be precise at Mangan, the headquarter, of the Sikkim North district. There were about four-to-five aftershocks of lesser intensity within five-to-six hours. Minor tremors were felt even after a few...

-The Times of India   Just when sections in the Congress and the government have questioned the procedures of the CAG, the rural development ministry under Jairam Ramesh has invited the government auditor to inspect the accounts of UPA's flagship programme MGNREGA. Sources in the rural development ministry said the CAG earlier could not audit MGNREGA accounts because of some "ambiguities" which had now been done away with after Jairam's intervention. They...