-The Hindu   Madurai has been chosen as one among eight districts in the country by National Bank for Agriculture and Rural Development (NABARD) for implementing a micro pension project for the rural poor. As part of the launch preparations, a stakeholders' workshop was held here on Monday. Representatives of State Bank of India (SBI), Indian Bank, Canara Bank, Indian Overseas Bank (IOB), Tamilnad Merchantile Bank (TMB), Union Bank of India (UBI), Pandyan...

Oxfam, an international confederation of 15 human rights organisations fighting poverty and injustice, launched a new campaign here on Wednesday for a hunger-free world even as it announced that the number of hungry people the world over has crossed the billion mark and one in four of the world's hungry people live in India. Despite doubling the size of its economy between 1990 and 2005, the number of people in India...

P.V. RAJAGOPAL and Ekta Parishad, the non-governmental organisation he leads, have been championing the cause of land and forest rights of tribal and Dalit communities over the past two decades. The organisation is committed to non-violent, Gandhian forms of struggle and has recorded a number of success stories in ensuring and legitimising the land rights of deprived people, particularly in Madhya Pradesh, Chhattisgarh, Jharkhand, Bihar and Orissa. In this interview to...

Indian plant biotechnologists feel demoralised and displeased at the recent developments concerning genetically modified (GM) crops. Their dismay is chiefly because the indefinite moratorium on the release of genetically engineered Bt-brinjal has clouded the prospects for several other GM crops that are in the pipeline. Intensive scientific effort and heavy investments have gone into the development of these crops. Their displeasure is largely because the present opposition to the GM technology...

-PTI   The Supreme Court on Monday refused to entertain a petition seeking a CBI enquiry into the alleged excesses and violence unleashed by the Uttar Pradesh government on farmers protesting against "forcible" acquisition of land at Bhatta Parsaul. A bench of justices G S Singhvi and C K Prasad asked the petitioner to approach the Allahabad High Court since it had already taken cognisance and was dealing with the issue. Senior...