A 68-year-old Right to Information activist in Kancheepuram was found dead on the side of a road in Velathottam in Kancheepuram district on Thursday evening. V Balasubrmanian had filed a number of applications under the Right To Information (RTI) Act seeking information about alleged irregularities in several handloom weavers' cooperative societies in Kancheepuram district, it was learnt. Federation of Anti-Corruption Teams-India general secretary T Retnapandian of Chennai told TOI that...

India, the world’s second-biggest rice grower, may have a record harvest this year as increased planting offset drought in the east of the country. Production may total 100 million tonnes in the year ending June 2011, compared with 89.3 million tonnes a year ago, said Vijay Setia, president of All India Rice Exporters’ Association. Output was a record 99.2 million tonnes in the year ended June 30, 2009, according to the...

As the Mayawati government went into damage-control mode in a bid to contain the fallout of the Aligarh incident — in which four persons were killed in police firing on August 14 (unofficial Reports have claimed that six farmers were killed) — clashes were reported on Monday as agitated farmers resorted to ‘chakka jam' on the Aligarh-Mathura highway. According to Inspector-General (Law and Order) A.P. Maheshwari, farmers blocked the Aligarh highway...

A Hamburg-based lab, Eurofins, has alleged high levels of pesticide residue in Indian rice, basmati and non basmati. This is likely to start a long-drawn legal battle and for the time being jeopardise around $300m in basmati exports alone to Europe. The first batch of legal correspondence from the grain traders, a precedent to formal legal action, will be exchanged with the Hamburg-based private testing firm, Eurofins and Dr Speck...

The public outcry over illegal mining has compelled the government to set up a commission of inquiry into illegal mining of manganese and iron ore. The proposal, cleared by the Cabinet on Monday, will look into individual allegations of illegal mining. The inquiry commission will submit its final report in 18 months. It will also produce interim Reports. While commission will investigate past cases of illegal mining, its findings could...