-Deccan Chronicle   After initiating discussion on the proposed Land Acquisition (Amendment) Bill, Union rural development minister Vilasrao Deshmukh on Friday expressed confidence that the Central government would be able to take the Mamata Banerjee-led Trinamul Congress on board on the issue. He reiterated that the Centre would be able to draft a “pro-farmer” land acquisition law. The Trinamul Congress had been opposed to changes in land acquisition laws. Even RLD chief...

-The Hindu   Orissa High Court today issued notices to the State and Central governments and Posco India on a PIL alleging illegal forest clearance granted in favour of the company for a steel plant in Jagatsinghpur district. A division bench of Chief Justice V Gopal Gowda and Justice B N Mohapatra of the HC issued the notices after preliminary hearing on a PIL and adjourned the matter to be heard again...

The curiosum of a ‘red regime’ with a knack to get re-elected term after term for over more than three decades within the ambit of a full-fledged multi-party democracy has finally disappeared. The Left Front, led by the Communist Party of India (Marxist), has not merely lost the poll in West Bengal, it has been made mincemeat of. Its vote share has come down from close to 50 per cent...

-The Business Standard   After a smooth beginning to the Posco land acquisition work on Wednesday, the Jagatsinghpur district administration today faced a roadblock in the process as many villagers did not turn up for identification of betel vines following the arrest of 32 activists of United Action Committee, a pro-Posco outfit. UAC had boycotted the land acquisition work as it was aggrieved over the non-fulfillment of its demands. On the wee hours...

Environmentalist Ashish Kothari was a member of the Inter-Ministerial Committee (constituted by Ministry of Environment and Forest (MoEF) and Ministry of Tribal Affairs) to review the implementation of the Forest Rights Act (FRA). The committee, headed by Dr N C Saxena submitted its report recently to the Central government. During the course of its work the committee visited Odisha to assess the performance of the FRA there, particularly in the...