Tibetans light candles after a prayer meeting in New Delhi on Wednesday in memory of the Sikkim earthquake victims. — G.N. Jha

In joint operations with the Army, security forces busted a network of Maoist which was spreading its link in Dibang Valley of the frontier state of Arunachal Pradesh.

In perhaps the first occurrence of its kind in India, freedom of expression on social network Facebook has led to the suspension from service of two employees of the Bihar government. The punishment meted out to the two award-winning writers has sparked outrage both online and offline.

While sharing public concerns over nuclear safety in the aftermath of the accident at the Fukushima nuclear plant in Japan, the Centre is quite clear that the logic of generating nuclear power in India has not lost its validity. “Nuclear power remains among the cheapest and cleanest sources of power,” official sources underlined here on Wednesday.

The ruling Bahujan Samaj Party in Uttar Pradesh is apparently losing faith in Thakurs who are, one by one, being shown the exit door.

India’s densely populated cities with poorly designed buildings makes 68 per cent of our urban population vulnerable to earthquakes.
“There are 344 towns which fall in the Zone 5 category (high risk category) making them amongst the most damage prone cities in the planet,” pointed out Shashidhar Reddy, vice-chairman of the National Disaster Management Authority.

Chief Election Commissioner (CEC) S.Y. Quraishi on Wednesday rejected the idea of right to recall an elected MP favoured by social activist Anna Hazare, as impractical and emphasised that the move could have a destabilising effect on the entire system.

India made clear on Wednesday that it has basic differences of perception with the major Western powers, including the US, over sensitive questions pertaining to Iran and recent developments in the Arab world involving efforts at regime change and the use of force.

Responding to Advocate-General B.V. Acharya’s comments that the former Lokayukta, Justice Santosh Hegde, did not follow the principles of “natural justice” while indicting officers and elected representatives in his second mining

While there has been much speculation about top Ulfa commander Paresh Baruah’s business interests in Bangladesh, Indian intelligence agencies have prepared a detailed report with graphic details about Baruah’s investments and income. The explosive report, accessed by this newspaper, shows Baruah has investments in real estate, the health sector, textiles, shipping, power projects and restaurants.