May 6: Seeking concrete steps to bring back Maoists into national mainstream, Union rural development minister Jairam Ramesh on Sunday said development of tribals and economic activities in Naxal-hit areas were essential, apart from security measures.

Leading Afghan women's rights champion, author, lawmaker and presidential hopeful Fawzia Koofi has a revealing anecdote about life as a woman in a man's land.

Already under close scrutiny by the Karnataka Lokayukta and Supreme Court-constituted Central Empowered Committee, the performance of the department of mines and geology in the state is now being thoroughly scanned by the Comptroller and Auditor General of India (CAG).

The police team probing the murder of the T.P. Chandrasekharan, leader of the Revolutionary Marxist Party on Friday night, has identified a seven-member gang responsible for the heinous act. Although officials remained tightlipped about the details the probe team seems to have gathered enough leads to confirm that the brutal killing was the result of a well-planned conspiracy by the political enemies of the assassinated leader.

Vladimir Putin’s return to the presidency on Monday will technically give him greater powers than he wielded as Prime Minister. The irony is that his position will be arguably weaker than at any time since he first came to power more than 12 years ago.

A day after reuniting with his family after spending 13 days in Maoist custody, Sukma district collector Alex Paul Menon on Saturday spoke his mind for the first time on the incident, saying, “I could not ever imagine that the kidnapping would be done in such a brutal fashion, striking terror in the hearts of the ordinary poor tribals of Manjhipara who had assembled with all hopes around me”.

A local court here on Friday rejected bail pleas of two women Naxals, whose release the Naxals demanded in exchange of IAS officer Alex Paul Menon’s freedom.

It was an emotional moment for the Menon family at Sukma, nearly 450 km from here, when the local district collector Alex Paul Menon reunited with his pregnant wife Asha after spending 13 days in Maoist custody.

Two Maoist mediators on Friday virtually contested chief minister Raman Singh’s denial of any swap deal with Naxals to secure Sukma district collector Alex Paul Meon’s release from Maoist custody, saying that “there was an understanding to release 3 Maoists” in exchange of the IAS officer’s freedom.

Nine persons were sentenced to life imprisonment on Friday and 30 acquitted by a special court for the killing of three members of a Muslim family in Ode village who were burnt alive during the 2002 post-Godhra riots in Gujarat.
The nine accused were convicted by special court judge R.M. Sarin on charges of murder, rioting and criminal conspiracy and awarded life imprisonment.