-The Economist   Nuclear power will not go away, but its role may never be more than marginal, says Oliver Morton THE LIGHTS ARE not going off all over Japan, but the nuclear power plants are. Of the 54 reactors in those plants, with a combined capacity of 47.5 gigawatts (GW, a thousand megawatts), only two are operating today. A good dozen are unlikely ever to reopen: six at Fukushima Dai-ichi, which suffered...

In a state where mining mafia has become audacious enough to allegedly kill a young IPS officer, the mineral resources department does not even keep record of its minister’s periodic review of illegal mining, storage and transportation. This shocking state of affairs in the department has been laid bare by the department’s reply to a recent RTI application.   The RTI plea was filed in December 2011 with the mineral resources department...

-IANS The Delhi High Court has slammed the Delhi government for failing to respond to a plea by 172 farmers over takeover of their land using the urgency clause of the Land Acquisition Act.  A division bench of Justice Sanjay Kishan Kaul and Justice Rajiv Shakedhar also fined the government Rs.5,000.  In a hearing March 6, the judges asked the government to explain why it acquired the land using the urgency clause and...

-The Hindu Business Line   Hubli: Radiation and chemical-induced mutation and subsequent use in recombination breeding at Bhabha Atomic Research Centre (BARC) has resulted in the release of 39 improved crop varieties in oilseeds and pulses in India, said Dr Ratan Kumar Sinha, Director, BARC, Mumbai. Delivering the 25th Annual Convocation address of the University of Agricultural Sciences, Dharwad, Karnataka, Dr Sinha said nuclear techniques in agriculture is particularly helpful in creating new...

BINDOL (NORTH DIANJPUR): In these arid, impoverished parts, Bindol has another name - kidney village. The wasted, skeletal men and women you would see slumped under the shade of trees are awaiting death with feeble breaths. This is the kidney sale capital of the state, perhaps of the country. Every second home here has someone who has sold his kidney to escape starvation. Many die within years.  Now, the dying men...