View Articles

New Delhi: Chiria iron ore mines of SAIL in the Saranda forest in Paschimi Singhbhum district of Jharkhand gets forest clearance from the Ministry of Environment and Forests today. The approval is subjected to the usual 13 specific conditions governing forest clearance like those relating to compensatory afforestation and Net Present Value. Forest clearances had been given to SAIL earlier in July 1998 and October 1998 for two leases in Chiria itself.

New Delhi: India is likely to produce 232.07 million tonnes of foodgrains during 2010-11 compared to 218.11 million tonnes last year. This is only marginally below the record production of 234.47 million tonnes of foodgrains in 2008-09. We are likely to achieve record production of wheat (81.47 million tonnes), pulses (16.51 million tonnes) and cotton (339.27 lakh bales of 170 kg. each) this year.

New Delhi: The Union Minister for Labour & Employment Shri Mallikarjun Kharge chaired a crucial tripartite meeting in New Delhi today to review the actions taken in cases of the reported violent incidents in the industrial units in Delhi and National Capital Region in the recent past.

Bengaluru: India said that the disturbed neighbourhood poses security challenges for it and the region. It would increase its defence budget over the next two decades.

What is ailing India, the world’s largest democracy? It is the saga of corruption going unabted – be it relating to the Commonwealth Games, allocation of 2-G Spectrum and S-band Spectrum, appointment of the CVC chairman, protecting market manipulators causing price rise or the disclosures in Nira Radia tapes.

BHOPAL: The three-day “Narmada Samajik Kumbh”, commencing at Mandla in Madhya Pradesh from Feb 10, it seems, will be an out and out anti-Christian gathering. Posters have already appeared in the tribal-dominated Mandla district, warning the Christian missionaries of the “dangerous consequences of Conversions”.

KOLKATA: As the run up to the State Assembly elections in Assam begins, the scenario is one of a weak, faction-ridden and divided Opposition unable to take advantage of the anti-incumbency factor working against the ruling Congress which is facing a number of corruption charges involving some of its senior ministers. The most serious is the Rs. 1000 crore misappropriation of funds from the North Cachar Hills Autonomous District Council. Some of the money siphoned off is believed to have been used for funding a militant group. Though seven ministers and party leaders are allegedly involved in the scam, the central leadership of the Congress has given Chief Minister Tarun Gogoi a clean chit.

WASHINGTON – A new World Bank report warns that South Asian countries are facing a health crisis with rising rates of heart disease, diabetes, obesity, and other noncommunicable diseases (NCDs), which disproportionately affect poor families, with possible side effects of disability and premature death, and worsening poverty as people pay for medical treatment out of their own pockets.

New York: Egypt under President Hosni Mubarak has played a key role in seeking peace between Israel and the Palestinians and this role must be preserved in any transition stemming from the current mass protests, Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon said today.

New York: Fresh floods have hit Sri Lanka just weeks after large swathes of the South Asian island nation were inundated by a deluge caused by torrential rainfall, the United Nations reported today, saying that over a million people already weakened by the initial flooding are affected.