Eco-activism has Punjab’s polluters in a tizzy Operation Clean-Up     * Industrial and organic pollution from the Sutlej and the Beas is affecting southern districts of Punjab and parts of Rajasthan     * A popular movement straddling both states and helmed by eco-activist Baba Balbir Singh     * Seechewal has the election-bound state government worried     * Seechewal organised a massive exercise to prevent the Kala Sanghian, a highly polluted Sutlej tributary, from draining...

The Mumbai police suspect that Mid Day scribe Jyotirmoy Dey may have been killed at the instance of a south Mumbai businessman who is into smuggling of red sandalwood. "Dey was working on a story that could have exposed him. The businessman, through his underworld contacts, executed the murder. This is one of the key motives that has emerged from our interrogation," a police officer said. The businessman offered Rs 10...

The efficacy of implementing the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (MGNREGA) in the district is questionable. People of Dasmantpur block who were employed under the Act three to four years ago are yet to get their due payment. Sixty labourers of KALIAmbo village under Dasmantpur block were engaged in a field channel work under the MGNREGA in 2008. The estimated cost of the project was Rs 8 lakh and...

Sixteen-year-old Rubina Khatun (name changed) of Jinarditola village in Malda's KALIAchak-II had an affair with Raisuddin, a local boy. Although the affair did not meet with approval from her parents, especially as her Class X exam was near, she was obstinate. On October 16, Rubina's father, Saifuddin Sk, lodged a complaint with the local police station, alleging that Raisuddin had taken his daughter away. A police search did not yield any...

A recent survey carried out by the TNUEF brings to light details of the discrimination Dalits in Madurai have faced for generations. OVER seven decades have rolled by since the freedom fighter A. Vaidhyanatha Iyer successfully led Dalits into the Meenakshi temple in Madurai, overcoming all the impediments posed by the casteist forces that were hell-bent on thwarting the historic event. But the stark reality is that “hidden apartheid” against...