-DNA   The outgoing chief information commissioner (CIC), of Maharashtra Vijay Kuvalekar, opined that the judicious usage of the Right to Information (RTI), Act 2005, has proved potent in solving many problems of the common man. Kuvalekar, was speaking to the media persons, on the eve of his retirement on Monday in Pune. “In my five-year tenure, I have come across many cases, where RTI has been successful in solving the problems of...

The fertiliser ministry may seek more funds from the finance ministry to meet its subsidy obligations as it needs more than the allocated amount to take care of the rising subsidy bill, a top official said.  "We have already received 17,700 crore in addition to the budgetary allocation of around 50,000 crore. But we still need more funds, and the amount will be finalised in consultation with the finance ministry," said...

-IANS At least 24 people died in Odisha after consuming spurious liquor laced with medicines, authorities said. The victims from Cuttack and Khordha districts fell ill Tuesday after taking the drink that officials said contained drugs used to treat cough and cold and to dress wounds. District Collector S.N. Girish told IANS that among the dead was Baidhar Bhoi, the brew seller. He was the first to die -- Tuesday morning.   Other deaths took...

Mohammad Aamir had just turned 18, when one February day in 1998, he was ambushed by a police van. A month later, he found himself thrown against the cold, forbidding walls of a prison cell in the capital's Tihar jail. The charges were murder, terrorism and waging war against the nation. Aamir, released in January this year after 14 years, was named the main accused in 20 low-intensity bomb blasts executed...

Observed changes in rainfall patterns and increased temperatures, particularly in the North-Eastern region, are the major projections on which Indian agriculture scientists are pegging their “mitigation and adaptation” plans in the farm sector in the absence of definitive long-term and area-specific data on climate change. AcknowLEDging that in India the “climate system is extremely complex and poorly understood in terms of extent, timing and impact”, Indian Council of Agriculture Research (ICAR)...