-Frontline Farmers protest against the Central clearance for coal bed methane exploration in Mannargudi, Tamil Nadu, as they fear it will devastate agriculture in Tiruvarur and Thanjavur districts.  THE woes of the delta farmers of Tamil Nadu are far from over. While the Cauvery tangle continues unresolved, they fear the proposed multi-crore project for commercial exploration and exploitation of coal bed methane (CBM) in the Mannargudi block of Tiruvarur district will prove...

-DNA The high court on Wednesday directed the state government to quickly formulate rules and regulations to ensure the safety of RTI activists. RTI activist Lingaraju, 40, was killed by three unidentified people in front of his house in Chamarajpet. The high court had taken a suo motu public interest litigation based on newspaper reports. A memo was filed by the state government contending that the it had no objections to constitute...

-The Hindu New investment committee can hasten,not compel clearance After the Environment Ministry’s vociferous objections to a National Investment Board (NIB) which could assume some of its authority, the Union Cabinet on Thursday approved a renamed and watered down version of the original proposal, creating a new Cabinet Committee on Investment (CCI) to expedite decisions on infrastructure and manufacturing projects over Rs. 1,000 crore. The new CCI will be chaired by Prime Minister...

-Frontline Maharashtra’s sugarcane farmers are a worried lot as the State government backs out from the sugar pricing process.  Sangli & Kolhapur: KOLHAPUR and Sangli districts in Maharashtra form the heartland of Indian sugar industry. This time of year is generally the busiest, with itinerant labourers cutting sugarcane and loading it on to tractors that roar off to the more than 20 sugar factories in the two districts. In November and December,...

-The Nation The labor campaign confronting Walmart in the United States is planning an international escalation for tomorrow. In partnership with the global union federation UNI, the union-affiliated group Making Change at Walmart is supporting a “Global Day of Action,” with participation expected from Walmart workers in Argentina, Brazil, Canada, Chile, India, Nicaragua, South Africa, the United Kingdom and Zambia. The day’s main US protest will be a Miami demonstration featuring...