A fresh wave of farmer suicides has been reported in several states, pushing families deeper into poverty. A coalition of farm-sector organisations said it had identified over 700 cases this year, but state government officials said they were still verifying the incidents. “Vidarbha in Maharashtra has emerged as the epicentre of farmer suicides again. There have been 680 suicides in just 6 districts in 2011,” said Kishor Tiwari of Vidarbha Jan...

The Trinamool Congress rode to power earlier this year on the strength of popular resentment against the acquisition of land for commercial development, but farmers in West Bengal seeking higher compensation say the party is no longer as receptive to their demands. That maybe because, while the Trinamool Congress-led state government has said it won’t acquire private property for industrial use, it is keen on creating jobs and is, therefore, allotting...

The top 10 investment destinations for Indian companies in the last three years are all tax havens, if the US and UK which figure at number 4 and number 8, respectively, are discounted. The statistic, released by the finance ministry, reinforces the belief that the government has failed in curbing the flow of black money out of the country. Around 40% of the total investments in these three years have been...

-The Times of India   Fifty-one tigers have died in different states of India between January and December 5, 2011, according to statistics collated by a prominent wildlife NGO. A tigress shot dead outside Kaziranga Park in Assam on Monday is the latest in that list. Figures provided by Wildlife Protection Society of India show that 14 tigers perished in Uttarakhand, the highest in a single state. Karnataka takes the second place with...

-The Times of India   The US continues to be the biggest donor for Indian NGOs, contributing a little less than one-third of the total Rs 10,337 crore received by various non-profit voluntary organizations in 2009-10. The latest statistics for the year 2009-10, disclosed by the home ministry in Parliament last week, showed that Germany took second spot, replacing UK which has traditionally been just behind the US in the list of donors...