The central government had diverted Rs 20,000 crore of funds meant for tribal people’s welfare to other departments in the past two years, CPM Politburo member and Adivasi Adhikar Rashtriya Manch president Brinda Karat alleged here on Monday. Speaking at a dharna organised by the AP Girijana Sangham in front of the office of the Integrated Tribal Development Agency (ITDA) here to seek release of more funds for the welfare of...

The state government has ruled out giving additional rehabilitation benefits to farmers who accepted compensation for their lands acquired for Karchana and Bara power projects in Allahabad district. In recent weeks, both places witnessed agitations by farmers which have brought work to a halt. Both projects have been allotted to the Jaypee Group. On Monday, parliamentary Affairs minister Lalji Verma told the Assembly that the projects had been shelved for now. “The farmers...

Activists hope that a popular agitation against the setting up of a factory to manufacture asbestos products in the eastern Bihar state will result in a nationwide ban on the large-scale import into this country of the deadly mineral fibre. Following six months of agitation against the setting up of the factory in the Chainpur-Bishunpur area of Bihar’s Muzzaffarpur district, state chief minister Nitish Kumar sought to lay blame on the...

The 50-year-old farmer knew from experience that his onion crop was doomed when torrential rains pounded his fields throughout September, a month when the Indian monsoon normally peters out. For lack of modern agricultural systems in this part of rural India, his land does not have adequate drainage trenches, and he has no safe, dry place to store onions. The farmer, Arun Namder Talele, said he lost 70 percent of...

Legislation targets poor and vulnerable sections among whom malnutrition was particularly high Prime Minister Manmohan Singh said on Thursday that the government was committed to bring to parliament a Right to Food Act which would serve as a viable safety net for the poor and the vulnerable sections among whom malnutrition was particularly high. Addressing an international conference on ‘Leveraging Agriculture for Improving Nutrition and Health,' the Prime Minister said such...