Farmer agitation over compensation for land returned to haunt the Mayawati government when about a dozen persons, including three policemen, were injured in a clash in Karchhana in Allahabad district on Friday. The farmers of Dewri Kachri village staged an indefinite dharna demanding more compensation for the land acquired for a power project being developed by the JP Group in Karchhana. Reports said that one person was killed in police firing....

The Department of Personnel and TRAIning has rejected most of the changes suggested in the government's Draft Rules for the Right to Information Act by the Sonia Gandhi-led National Advisory Council (NAC). The NAC, therefore, decided on Friday to have a face-to-face consultation with the DoPT before finalising its recommendations on the subject. The NAC had specifically objected to two proposed changes– abating of the proceedings before the Information Commission if...

To promote organic farming in Uttar Pradesh, industry body Assocham has decided to adopt five districts in the state. “The Assocham has decided to develop five districts in UP as organic districts and a delegation of the association will soon meet chief minister Mayawati in this regard,” its general secretary D S Rawat told PTI. He said under the plan, TRAIning will be imparted to farmers of these districts, besides promoting medium...

The Indian Medical Association (IMA) has described as “unfortunate” the endorsement of the Union Government's decision to start a Bachelor of Rural Health course at the meeting of State Health Ministers in Hyderabad on January 12-13. Calling it a retrograde step, the IMA members said they will strongly oppose the move to produce half-baked doctors for the rural population. Association national president Vinay Aggarwal said: “This group of doctors, according to the...

The Sonia Gandhi-headed National Advisory Council will meet on Friday for the second time this month. It will consider a number of issues, including the Rangarajan panel’s recommendations on the draft Food Security Bill. The high-profile policy advisory body, headed by the United Progressive Alliance chairperson , may formulate its response to the governmentappointed Rangarajan panel’s recommendations, which were seen as diluting the NAC’s vision of the scope of legally binding...