Not a comprehensive draft, says Medha Patkar The first major opposition to the draft National Land Acquisition and Rehabilitation and Resettlement Bill, 2011 will be in the form of a three-day dharna here beginning on Wednesday by the project-affected people. Various peoples' movements under the banner of SANGHARSH have decided to stage a dharna at Jantar Mantar protesting the new draft and demanding that the government come up with a comprehensive National...

Directive comes after explosion of stoves, lamps using the kerosene The Assam government has directed all Deputy Commissioners and Sub-Divisional Officers (Civil) to collect samples of blue-dyed kerosene (meant for the Public Distribution System) from sensitive areas and depots and send them to the Forensic Laboratory in Guwahati for investigation. The directive came in the wake of explosion of stoves and lamps using the PDS kerosene. A woman was killed and several others...

-The Hindu   West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee announced here on Wednesday her government's decision to increase the number of those to whom rice is being made available at Rs. 2 a kg. “The poor do not get food; we have decided to ensure that all do,” she said while announcing a new scheme of food for the poor after a meeting with the Food and Supplies Minister, Jyotipriya Mallick, and...

Retail giants pushing the European Union-India free trade deal promise consumers a "new and dynamic retail experience" but ignore the fate of India’s "mom-and-pop" stores and some 40 million people they employ. Four years in the making, the EU-India Bilateral Trade and Investment Agreement made serious headway during Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh’s visit to Brussels Dec. 10 and is due to be signed and sealed early 2011. But the negotiations have...

The struggle had asserted the right of the people to their land, water and forests “In the Narmada valley/The fight is still on” – thus sang the people of Bhadal in Madhya Pradesh, where Narmada Bachao Andolan (NBA) leader Medha Patkar was heading a prayer meeting as part of the activities marking the completion of 25 years of the people's movement. Rallies, meetings, folk songs and dances formed part of the struggle...