-The Hindu In the wake of references being made to investigate the health issues of mine workers, the Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR) proposes to establish a statutory authority. Cancer, tuberculosis, silicosis, diabetes, musculoskeletal disorders and pulmonary function impairment such as asthma affect mine workers. The proposed authority will coordinate with the Ministries and authorities concerned for taking administrative, legal and medical action. The ICMR has approached the State governments for developing a...

-The Hindu Houses belonging to weavers’ community were torched on June 23 A row of kuccha and pucca houses lie in a rubble of mud, stone and bricks. Those that stand have blackened walls, dismantled roofs and half-doors. Some have no doors. Ashes of hay and grains are strewn outside the granaries. The local mosque looks desolate; its gate is oddly locked. An eerie sense of calm surrounds the place. This is the...

-The Hindu A retelling of Rabindranath Tagore’s celebrated play Muktadhaara, often interpreted as Tagore’s nationalist critique of colonial exploitation, came under fire from the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party’s culture police on Saturday evening here. Tamasha Naa Hua, directed by noted director Bhanu Bharti, was staged at the city’s famous Bharat Bhawan cultural centre as part of the Rangmandal theatre festival on Saturday evening. Muktadhaara considered one of Tagore’s finest plays is about the...

-Live Mint Notwithstanding the drought, farmers have preferred to sow sugar cane and rice instead of opting for less water-intensive crops such as coarse grains and pulses. The latest sowing data released by the agriculture ministry as of 16 August shows that area under coarse cereals and pulses is down 13% and 12.39%, respectively, from last year, while that for rice and sugar cane contracted only 3.57% and 4.53%, respectively. In the process,...

-The HIndustan Times The images bore an uncanny resemblance to Partition snap-shots. Trains packed with people barely able to find standing room, ferrying refugees in their own land.  Even the overflowing toilets were choc-a-bloc with panicky residents of the North-East. Everyone fleeing an unknown enemy, everyone desperate to get back to the security of their own homes. Two trains from Bengaluru chugged into Howrah station on Friday carrying thousands of passengers en route...