Autobiographical volume later released at publisher's stall in Kolkata Fair; supporters protest Before the storm over the absence of Salman Rushdie at the Jaipur Literature Festival abated, another controversy has broken out, this time at the 36th Kolkata International Book Fair. On Wednesday, the publishers of a book written by Bangladeshi author Taslima NASreen were not allowed to release it as per schedule. Even as Kolkata police officers said they had received...

-The Times of India   UP Lokayukta Justice N K Mehrotra has recommended registration of a case and a CBI and Enforcement Directorate probe against former state minister Babu Singh Kushwaha under the Prevention of Corruption and Money Laundering Act.  The Lokayukta has found him prima facie guilty of large-scale anomalies in allotment of mines and other financial irregularities and forwarded a report to chief minister Mayawati for necessary action.  "There were three specific...

Millions of Indians are suspected to be carriers of the drug-resistant bug After the scary New Delhi metallo-beta-lactamase-1 or the “superbug” was detected two years ago, the world is now faced with the community-acquired methicillin-resistant staphylococcus aureus (ca-MRSA) bacterium that is resistant to almost all common antibiotics. In India, where poor hygiene and the availability of over-the-counter antibiotics lead to development of resistance, an estimated 100 to 200 million people are reportedly...

On a wall on Station Road, among posters of Khoonkar Darinde and The Dirty Picture, Amitabh Bachchan looks out of a row of yellow-and-red posters and says, “Do boond har baar.” Here in Moradabad, the town in western Uttar Pradesh that till recently exported, besides its intricate brassware, strains of the deadly polio virus, the posters have been around for long. The writing on the wall was clear: this was...

-The Telegraph Mamata Banerjee today met Irom Sharmila Chanu, who has spent 11 years fasting to force Delhi to lift the Armed Forces (Special Powers) Act from Manipur, and expressed “appreciation” for her protest. “Only appreciation?” asked Sharmila, who is being kept alive on a forced diet of liquid nutrition, inserted through a NASal pipe. At an election rally later, Mamata termed the army act a “draconian law” that should have long been...