Minister for water resources Pawan Kumar Bansal is reported to have been horrified to have learnt of the macabre incident in which a mother, Qadeeran, and her youngest son, Rasheed, were killed by her two elder sons, Nafees and Anees, over a water dispute in Banda district of Bundelkhand.

Plunging groundwater levels would have only served to accelerate the situation but Mr Bansal is reported to have confided to close aides that even he was shocked that a water dispute would result in “matricide and fratricide”.

BANDA/CHITRAKOOT: Sunita's hands tremble as she picks up a heavy hammer to break a stone boulder in Narhari village, about 40 km from main Banda city. It has been more than three hours since the 18-yearold has been doing what her father Jagat Pal never wanted. "But we do not have any option. She needs to help me in breaking these stones. The lorry may come anytime,'' Pal says.

LUCKNOW: Five days after Congress general secretary Rahul Gandhi accused Mayawati government in UP of mega-scale corruption in the centrally sponsored schemes, union rural development minister Jairam Ramesh has shot off a letter to UP chief minister Mayawati citing a huge scam in the MNREGA scheme in the state. According to sources, Jairam has specifically mentioned seven districts Balrampur, Gonda, Mahoba, Sonbhadra, Sant Kabir Nagar and Mirzapur where central funds have been allegedly misused by the state.

Credit Pushing Poor Farmers Into Vicious Debt Cycle
Banda: Rising debt and increasing poverty: that is the story of the average farmer in Uttar Pradesh

Banda: Everything is in short supply here, especially hope. There was a flicker of it, though, when on April 30 Prime Minister Manmohan Singh came here with Rahul Gandhi. Maybe the people were expecting a miracle, an end to the misery created by season after season of bad crops and the resultant rising debt.

Their hope proved to be short-lived.

Lucknow: The forest department has come up with plantation targets for the year 2010-11. The department will plant saplings covering over an area of 55,000 hectares in the coming year. The plantation exercise will begin this month with the advent of monsoon.

Technical wing of Irrigation department is planning to enhance capacity of pump canals in several districts which would bring additional 4265 hectare area under irrigation facility.

At least 32 more people froze to death in last 24 hours in Uttar Pradesh as cold wave continues to sweep Gangetic belt engulfing the plains with dense fog bringing rail, air and road services to a screeching halt, official said on Sunday.

Drought, suicides and no relief. Will things ever change for Bundelkhand