Chhattisgarh tribals punished for exercising rights under Panchayat (Extension to Scheduled Areas) Act It was unconstitutional, violation of PESA, says petition It was pushed by local administration, politicians to set up thermal power plant One morning in March 2010, residents of Premnagar awoke to discover they were villagers no more. An administrative notification had dissolved Premnagar's village council or gram panchayat and replaced it with a city council or nagar panchayat. Unbeknownst to...

The Bihar Government's plans for a mega power plant at Nabinagar in Aurangabad district went for a toss as an agitation by a large mob of farmers turned violent on Saturday, resulting in the torching of an empty passenger train. The farmers were agitating against the acquisition of 1871 acres of private land by the State Government for setting up 3300 MW power project, on grounds that the State Government had...

In a boost to rural road network in the state, the Centre today approved a state government proposal to construct 2,005km of roads with Rs 548.58 crore, and 49 bridges to connect these roads with another Rs 96.09 crore, under the Pradhan Mantri Gram Sadak Yojana (PMGSY). The decision was taken by a high-powered committee set up by the Union rural development ministry to monitor PMGSY. The meeting in New Delhi...

Krishi Bhavan supports endosulfan companies; Kerala protests THE timing and the message of the conference could not have been more stark. At a time when the endosulfan problem is in the limelight, sparking calls for a nationwide ban on the pesticide, its manufacturers staged a remarkable feat. They held a three-day conference on rural prosperity at Delhi’s Vigyan Bhavan, venue for high-power official meetings, and put across the message that the hazardous...

CBI has finally asked CWG Organizing Committee (OC) chief Suresh Kalmadi to present himself before the agency, which is likely to quiz him about his role in dodgy contracts, a blackmail letter and destruction of evidence. Kalmadi has, like DMK's A Raja did in the 2G spectrum allocation case, responded by expressing his inability to be at the CBI headquarters immediately. Kalmadi has sought time till January 3 and agency sources...