CHANDRAWAL, India—Satbir Sharma's wife is dead. His family lives in fear. His father's left leg is shattered, leaving him on crutches for life.   Sharma's only hope lies in a new law that gives him the right to know what is happening in the investigation of his wife's death. Most of all, he wants to know what will happen to the village mayor, now in jail on murder charges. He talks quietly, under...

Bhausaheb R Wakchaure, Shiv Sena MP from Shirdi, has introduced a private members bill (Bill No. 70 of 2011) proposing that information requested under the (Right To Information) RTI can be denied to applicants who do not state the reason they require the information or it is the opinion of the competent authority that reasons given by the applicant are not adequate or are factually incorrect. The proposed bill will destroy...

-PTI The health sector will get a larger share of 2.5 per cent of GDP instead of 1.8 per cent, in the next Plan period, said Planning Commission member Syeda Hamid. Addressing an international Vaccination Symposium at Surajkund near here today, she said this will be a very "big jump." She said that year-by-year achievement has to be recorded to get maximum benefits and the Planning Commission will insist that what is spent...

The public hearing held here to elicit the opinion of tribal people of various villages under Sarugudu panchayat of Nathavaram mandal in Visakhapatnam district, on the proposed laterite mining project, passed off peacefully on Thursday. The police, who were present in large numbers, and the officials were at ease as the project proponents seemed to have brainwashed the people located on the hills on the benefits that would accrue to them...

Child malnutrition in Gulbarga and Bijapur districts is a blot on Karnataka's image. Ba Ba Basavanna Anganwadi Hogona Avarekaalu Tinnona Ah, Aaa, Ee, Eee, Bariyona Mane Kadege Hogona (Come, Come, Basavanna Let's go to the anganwadi Let us eat beans And write A, B, C, D, And head towards home.) As Savitri Nimbad sings this ditty, the more than 20 children seated in a circle around her repeat each line in shrill voices. Almost all of them are between three and...