-The Times of India   An attempt to drag chief minister Mayawati to the Lokayukta court for allegedly granting undue favours to liquor baron Ponty Chadha fell flat on Thursday when UP's Lokayukta, Justice NK Mehrotra, declined to entertain the complaint on the grounds that the law does not authorize him to investigate the CM. The complaint against Mayawati was filed by a journalist. Mehrotra also said since Mayawati does not hold the...

-The Hindu Kisan Sabha wants Prime Minister to meet agriculturists The All India Kisan Sabha has demanded that Prime Minister Manmohan Singh convene a meeting of farmers' organisations, farm scientists and economists to evolve measures to accord top priority to agriculture sector in the XII Five Year Plan. The agenda finalised at the meeting should form part of the discussions of the National Development Council so that the Centre and States could finalise...

The Central Bureau of Investigation has registered five new cases, including one against the former Family Welfare Minister of Uttar Pradesh, Babu Singh Kushwaha, pertaining to alleged irregularities in the implementation of the National Rural Health Mission (NRHM) funds, leading to a loss of Rs.28 crore to the exchequer. The investigating agency seized valuables, cash and documents during the searches conducted at 60 places in Delhi, U.P, Haryana and Madhya...

After a little over two months of lull following the Allahabad High Court’s verdict in the Noida and Greater Noida land acquisition case, farmers’ groups are set to join the existing case before the Supreme Court. Yesterday, the apex court issued notices to the state government and the Greater Noida Authority (Gnida) as to why the recent HC ruling in the case should not be quashed. This was on a petition...

-DNA The state government has strongly opposed the land acquisition bill proposed by the Centre, claiming that the rehabilitation cost of development projects will go up by at list four times if the provision in the bill comes into force. The government has stated that the monetary compensation given to the landholders would be higher than the profit from the project. Comparing the existing expenditure for land acquisition and rehabilitation with that of...