KUTCH - In a small pastoral vand (hamlet) in Kutch, Gujarat, 10 year old Ramu wakes up at five in the morning. His mother serves him a hasty breakfast of bajra rotis after which he is packed off to the pasturelands surrounding their small hamlet to graze the family's buffaloes. Since his village does not have a working school, grazing the livestock is gainful employment from the point of view of Ramu's father.

NEW DELHI - Union Home Minister P Chidambaram has written to different Ministries under Government of India for organising programmes and events befitting the Qaumi Ekta Week (National Integration Week), which will be observed all over the country from Friday with the pledge of national integration.

NEW DELHI - The Ministry of Environment and Forests will give away 'Indira Priyadarshini Vrikshamitra Awards' 2010 on Friday to recognize the pioneering and innovative contribution made by individuals and institutions in the field of afforestation and wasteland development.

NEW DELHI - Moinuddin and Krishna, though as different as chalk and cheese, have one thing in common. They follow a unique profession that both chanced upon many years ago - diving into Delhi's Yamuna river and fishing out coins thrown in by devotees.

MALDA/MURSHIDABAD - A phone call from Biswajit Halder was the last time that Ashalata Halder got to interact with her 25-year-old grandson. After days of agonising over the fate of her family, Ashalata was shattered to learn that six of them including Biswajit had perished in the Delhi building collapse.