Amidst hue and cry over micro-finance institutions (MFIs) charging the rural poor exorbitant interest rates, Reserve Bank of India norms continue to allow these entities a free hand in determining their charges. The banks lending to MFIs too continue to have full discretion in fixing their rate of interest. RBI has issued a latest master circular reiterating its earlier stand on micro-credit on February 14. Master circulars are like ready-reckoners on...

The chief of the army's central command surveyed Abhujmaadh forests from the air and then landed in Raipur to allay anxieties over a potential conflict escalation in the Maoist controlled forest in Chhattisgarh's Narayanpur district where the army plans to train its troops. "We will exercise maximum restraint. This is our country, they are our people," said Lieutenant General Vijay Ahluwalia, emphasising that the army would be deployed solely for the...

Calcutta High Court today came down on the CID for its failure to track down all the accused in the Netai killings. Nine persons were killed when alleged CPM Activists fired on villagers from an armed party camp in Netai in West Midnapore on January 7. Today, a division bench of Chief Justice J.N. Patel and Justice A.K. Roy criticised the state for not paying enough attention to the case. The court...

The CID, on Monday, arrested two CPM Activists wanted in connection with the Netai killings near Lalgarh which took place on January 7. Acting on a tip-off , the detectives picked up the duo -- Aswini Chalak and Abani Bhusan Singh --from a house in Midnapore town. A senior CID official said on Monday that both the arrested persons were local CPM leaders in Lalgarh and had been absconding since January...

The daughter-in-law of a Right to Information (RTI) Activist who exposed a pension scam in Haryana was allegedly murdered by the village council head involved in the scam. Sonu was killed when she tried to rescue her father-in-law, Jagdish Sharma, after the village head, Dharambir Malik, crushed Sharma’s legs under the wheels of his car near Bhuna in Fatehabad district, around 50 km from here. A murder case has been registered against...