Janata Online

The Indian Air Force (IAF) is soon to honour master blaster Sachin Tendulkar with the rank of Honorary Group Captain. According to IAF sources, Air Headquarters has already finalized Tendulkar's name for the honour.

There was considerable debate as to what rank the great batsman should be given. Wing Commander and Squadron Leader were deemed too junior for the national icon, who has played for India for over 20 years. More...

Three Maoists were arrested for attacks on security personnel in the forest areas of Chintalwada in Orissa. This arrest follows just a day after 8 Maoists were killed in the neighbouring state of West Bengal.

The rebels, identified as Budura Padiami, Irma Kabasi and Sarat Behera were involved in several attacks on security personnel including one at Mariwada, he said. They were also involved in an attack on a power house at Balimela and violence during the general elections last year, police said More...

Impoverished parents are putting their children for sale for a few thousand rupees in Karnataka villages a short distance from Bangalore, the country's glitzy IT hub.These children, some even newborns, are being sold with the help of greedy middlemen for Rs 6,000 to Rs 8,000. Those about three and four years old have been given away in exchange for Rs 10,000.

In the last one week alone, six families in Tiptur taluk of Tumkur district sold their children to prosperous families. Expectedly, adoption procedures were not followed in these cases. But the tragic sale of children has brought the focus on another tragedy -- abject poverty. More...

The Bhopal Gas Tragedy verdict is out. It took 25 years to convict eight persons, with a possible jail sentence of a maximum of just two years.  In the judgement delivered by Chief Judicial Magistrate Mohan P Tiwari, pronounced the verdict in a packed court room convicting 85-year-old Mahindra, the non-executive former Chairman of UCIL, and seven others including Vijay Gokhle, the then Managing Director of UCIL, Kishore Kamdar, the then Vice President, J N Mukund, the then Works Manager, S P Choudhary, the then Production Manager, K V Shetty, the then Plant Superintendent and S I Quereshi, the then Production Assistant.

They were held guilty under Sections 304-A (causing death by negligence), 304-II (culpable homicide not amounting to murder) and 336, 337 and 338 (gross negligence) of the Indian Penal Code. Former Chief Justice of India K G Balakrishnan who just took over as the National Human Rights Commission (NHRC) believes the verdict on the Bhopal gas tragedy has “come late“. More...

The country's spending on social programmes, aimed at helping the poor, is likely to increase hugely. Problem is, can India afford it? India has appointed several socialist intellectuals and activists to a powerful government policy advisory body, officials said on Monday, signalling the possibility of higher spending on costly social programmes.

The National Advisory Council (NAC) is headed by Sonia Gandhi, powerful chief of the ruling Congress party who is seen as more inclined toward favouring the predominantly rural poor to help boost the party ahead of some key state elections. More...