The Election Commission is set to do a balancing act by again sending an observer team to Bengal, this time to assess the situation in places where Left supporters have been the “victims”. The move follows the CPM’s complaint that the previous team had visited only the areas suggested by the Opposition. “We are ready to send another team to Bengal next week. This time, the team will visit sensitive zones where...

Ilina Sen, wife of activist Dr Binayak Sen, was on Monday booked by Wardha police for not informing them about the participation of foreign nationals in 13 th National conference for the Indian Association of Women's Studies (IAWS) organized under her supervision at Mahatma Gandhi International Hindi University. The four-day conference concluded on Monday. The cops have also booked the in-charge of the accommodation committee of the conference. The offences against...

While there will be general agreement that the judgement in Binayak Sen's case represents a gross miscarriage of justice, most people will attribute it to the overzealousness of a lower judicial functionary, or, at the most, to the prevailing atmosphere in the state of Chhattisgarh. If the trial had been held elsewhere, they would argue, Binayak would not have got the verdict he did. They are probably right, just as...

Responding to the lack of computer training in Mukteshwar’s schools, Veena Sethi, a retired Delhi University professor, set up two used personal computers in the basement of her home with the aim of bringing the basics of computing to school children. "There were no libraries, no laboratories and no computer classes. In fact, most of the schools in Mukteshwar [which is in the Nainital district of northern Uttarakhand state] had no...

“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...