-PTI Raipur: Union Minister Jairam Ramesh today said providing toilet to women in the country will instill a sense of confidence, self respect and security among them. It is shameful that 60 per cent of women in the country still defecate in open and there was a shortage of toilets in the country, he told reporters here. In the backdrop of recent incidents of violence against women, including the Delhi gang-rape case, the...

-Outlook Seven more persons fell prey to biting cold wave in UP where death toll due to the harsh weather touched 69 today, while most other parts of North India also shivered and fog disrupted rail and air traffic. The National capital had a gloomy weather as the fog returned after four days, and the maximum temperature was recorded at 17 degree Celsius, a drop of four notches. The minimum was recorded...

-Frontline THE newly christened Right to Fair Compensation in Land Acquisition, Resettlement and Rehabilitation Bill, 2012, which was due to be passed in the Lok Sabha with amendments, has been deferred to the Budget session. Union Minister for Rural Development Jairam Ramesh spoke to Frontline on the present status of the Bill and the debate on it within Parliament and outside. Excerpts from the interview: * What were the reasons for the...

-Outlook 13 people were killed in North India today due to biting cold which tightened its grip across the region. In capital Delhi, the maximum temperature was 16.6 degrees celsius, four notches below normal, while the minimum was 9.2 degrees celsius, two degrees above normal. In Uttar Pradesh, 13 people were killed due to cold in various parts of the state in the last 24 hours. While three persons died due to extreme cold...

-Frontline The Land Acquisition, Resettlement and Rehabilitation Bill is an attempt to circumvent the hurdles before acquisition, such as rehabilitation of land losers, without much increasing the cost of land. THE preamble to the draft Land Acquisition, Resettlement and Rehabilitation (LARR) Bill is very noble; it talks about a “humane, informed, consultative and transparent process for land acquisition for industrialisation, development of essential infrastructural facilities and urbanisation with the least disturbance...