Misleading data cited in a seminar paper on the situation of the minority community in the State tend to detract from the Left Front government's exceptional record on this count. Abusaleh Shariff, the Chief Economist of the National Council of Applied Economic Research, who was the Member-Secretary of the Sachar Committee, presented a paper on the socio-economic development of Muslims in West Bengal, at a seminar organised by the Institute of...

Assam has the highest number of patients with cancer of the oesophagus, pharynx (or throat), larynx and gallbladder in the country with betel nut and tobacco chewing being the major contributors. According to the latest data available with the population-based cancer registries, Kamrup (metro) has the highest number of patients suffering from cancer of the oesophagus, pharynx and gall bladder against per lakh population while Cachar tops the nationwide list for...

While mass predilections in Bihar are still veering towards the male child, the Nitish Kumar government will be pleased with the provisional Census 2011 data for the State, which has indicated a 20 per cent jump in the State's female literacy rate. As per the report, literacy rates for women in Bihar have soared from 33.12 per cent in 2001 to 53.33 per cent this census year. The State's overall literacy rate...

Enforcement Directorate has begun attaching Madhu Koda and his friends’ properties, mostly flats and land in Bihar, Jharkhand and Maharashtra, valued at over Rs 300 crore. Armed with an April 6 approval order from the adjudicating authority for cases under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA), the directorate is sticking to the higher valuation even though 2007 revenue department assessments pegged the properties’ worth at around Rs 130 crore. “This is...

This is India’s Tahrir square, read one of the tweets soon after the campaign against corruption succeeded last week and forced the government to accept the demands of social activist Anna Hazare to announce a committee for considering a new Lokpal Bill against corruption. After watching widespread public demonstrations in Tunisia, Egypt and other Middle-East countries to rid their countries of dictators, there was a frisson of excitement among our socially...