-The Times of India   District collector Vikas Deshmukh on Wednesday instructed the commissioner of the Pimpri Chinchwad Municipal Corporation (PCMC) to stop the ongoing work on the Pavana pipeline project that led to a violent protest by farmers from Maval taluka on the Pune-Mumbai expressway on Tuesday. The collector also announced the appointment of sub-divisional magistrate of Maval Sanjay Patil for conducting a magisterial inquiry into the incident. Speaking to TOI,...

The completion of CAG audit of National Rural Health Mission (NRHM) in the state might take four to five months. Principal Accountant General, Allahabad, Mukesh P Singh, who is heading the audit in the state, has called a meeting of all the top medical officials of the state, including Director Generals, Additional Directors and Chief Medical Officers regarding the auditing on Thursday. “We will take around four to five months to...

-IANS   A central team that reviewed fund management under the National Rural Health Mission in Uttar Pradesh found ‘irregularity’ in award of contracts for procuring emergency medical transport services and poor quality of drugs, the Rajya Sabha was informed Tuesday. In a written reply, Minister of State Sudip Bandyopadhyay said Uttar Pradesh has ‘primary responsibility’ for implementing NRHM that aims to provide quality healthcare to people living in remote areas. The central health...

The Seed Bill 2010 -- which stayed in controversy because its initial draft seemed to favour agri-business rather than the farmer -- is now ready to get debated and passed in the current session of Parliament. Despite consultations, first in a Parliamentary Standing Committee and later in an all party meeting, a large number of farmers’ unions, opposition parties and civil society groups believe that the Bill fails to protect...

An RTI activist in Manipur’s Imphal East district has been ostracised inhis own village for raising question over the construction of Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan school building. Th Biren Singh (55) of Wakhong village fearing the eviction of the village school buildingin future if constructed in the unauthorised land, filed an RTI application enquiring whether the school building was constructed within the school’s authorised (patta) land or not. “Now, the villagers who were...