10 Odisha villages declare their habitats untouchability-free As a tribute to Mahatma Gandhi, 10 villages in seven panchayats in the Daringbadi block of Odisha’s Kandhamal district on Tuesday declared their habitats untouchability-free. In the gramsabha meetings of the seven panchayats held on Tuesday, resolutions relating to complete eradication of untouchability …

‘Countries need to make policy shifts and invest more’ The world will not reach the goal of universal sanitation coverage – where every person has access to toilets – by 2030 unless countries make comprehensive policy shifts and invest more funds, the World Health Organization (WHO) warned on Tuesday as …

Facility at Marine Drive cost Rs. 90 lakh Mumbai’s first Rs. 90 lakh clean-technology toilet was thrown open to the public at Nariman Point along Marine Drive on Tuesday. The environment-friendly toilet block, an initiative of the Brihanamumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC),and Nariman Point Churchgate Citizens’ Association (NPCCA), will serve the …

3,700 tractors, a few hundred buses and trollies took part in the journey, say participants Members of the Bhartiya Kisan Union (BKU) sat on the road, inside their tractors, on pavements and on barricades installed by police near east Delhi’s Ghazipur at the Delhi-Uttar Pradesh border on Tuesday. Though, they …

IAF aircraft and naval ships on the way to tsunami-hit Palu The Indian Air Force and the Navy on Tuesday launched efforts to deliver relief material to the tsunami-hit Indonesia. The Navy has diverted its ships INS Tir , Sujata and Shardul on deployment to Singapore to Palu in Indonesia. …

About one lakh refugees were to be accommodated in an islet in the Bay of Bengal Bangladesh has delayed the planned relocation of a part of the Rohingya refugees from Myanmar to an islet in the Bay of Bengal, sources said here on Tuesday. The Bangladesh Navy has been building …

Annual programme at University of New South Wales The sprawling lawn in front of the library at the University of New South Wales here on Tuesday saw a repeat of what has been an annual celebration for almost a decade now. On October 2 every year, a small crowd gathers …

Describing India as a ‘pillar of multilateralism’, UN Secretary-General urges it to play a bigger role in responding to the situation India must support Bangladesh in dealing with the Rohingya crisis and put pressure on Myanmar for their return, Antonio Guterres, on his first official visit to India as the …

It provides access to police to comb Maoist strongholds The CPI (Maoist) on Tuesday organised a meeting in the cut-off area (near Sileru) on the Andhra-Odisha Border (AOB) to protest against the construction of the Gurupriya bridge in the Naxal-affected Malkangiri district of Odisha. As per reports from the intelligence …

The rice market rose today [Rangoon, October 1] and Java shippers are paying Rs. 400 and over for rice to fulfil their engagements for which they have already got licenses. There is much discussion as to how the Government will obtain rice for Madras as the present price Rs. 372 …

At a meeting of the Senate held this evening [Bombay, September 30] the following was passed: The Syndicate is authorized to deal with the cases of students who have joined the Indian Defence Force if such students fail at any University examination except an examination for Honour’s or a Master’s …

Filling of reservoir near a fault can cause quakes Even very small reservoirs impounding water seasonally can cause deformation in the neighbouring region. Such deformation may add to the stress of a nearby fault, which if already critically stressed, can trigger an earthquake. Based on Global Positioning System and satellite …

North India faces a big test this winter on measures to reduce burning of crop residue The onset of the winter season has come to be associated with toxic atmospheric pollution in north India. This year will be a crucial test for a scheme piloted by the Union government to …

Bailing it out is one thing, but how didthe debt pile-up go unnoticed for so long? The Centre’s move to supersede the Board of Directors of the troubled Infrastructure Leasing & Financial Services (IL&FS) has come not a day too soon. By explicitly stating its intent to “ensure that needed …

Yehuda Elkana’s reflections could find resonance in India’s troubling present One of my closest friends, the Israeli educationist and philosopher, Yehuda Elkana (in picture), passed away in September 2012, bringing to a close a peripatetic life lived on different continents. Had cancer not taken him away, Elkana would have continued …

With all women allowed into the temple, the infrastructure has to be carefully revamped The path-breaking verdict of the Supreme Court striking down the exclusion of women in the 10-50 age group from the Sabarimala temple in Kerala might have put to rest the long-raging question of gender discrimination. But …

The buying house transfers import risks to the manufacturer The Punjab National Bank (PNB) grabbed headlines with a Rs. 13,000-crore loss on account of its high-profile client, Nirav Modi. Subsequently, lacunae were identified in the procedures of its foreign exchange transactions. An examination of the modus operandi revealed the ease …

The crises in Indian democracy and in global politics send one immediately to consult Gandhi Truth, Satya, was the central axis of the Gandhian system of thought and practice. For Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi, everything turned on Truth — satyagraha, swaraj, ahimsa, ashram, brahmacharya, yajna, charkha, khadi, and finally, moksha itself. …

To heed the conscience of the court, and hence the nation, we must honour dissenting judgments Over the past few days in the Supreme Court we have seen some remarkable dissents: Justices Indu Malhotra in Sabarimala , D.Y. Chandrachud in the Activists case and Aadhaar , S. Abdul Nazeer in …

A newly developed vaccine to treat patients with metastatic HER2-positive cancers has been found to be effective and safe, scientists say. The trial showed that among the 11 evaluable patients, those who received more than the lowest dose of the HER2-targeted cancer vaccine, six (54%) demonstrated clinical benefits. Source : …