-PTI   Over six lakh trees and some 1,800 betel vines will have to be sacrificed to set up Posco's Rs 52,000 crore mega steel project in Orissa's coastal Jagatsinghpur district. The trees to make way for the greenfield project include about three lakh casuarina and as many horticultural plants, official sources said. Local people have voiced strong opposition against the move to clear the trees, arguing that they will be exposed to...

Important draft legislation was recently unveiled in Rajasthan that would impose serious punishment for ‘witch-hunting’. Getting legislators to sign off on the bill, however, will prove difficult. Over the years, the women’s movement in Rajasthan has had some success in making violence against women into an important political issue. Activists have forced political parties and governments to demonstrate that they are addressing this constituency, which the media has dubbed ‘Mahila Sangathan’....

-PTI   Opposing acquisition of fertile and multi-crop land for setting up industries, CPI(M) leader Brinda Karat on Saturday suggested Orissa chief minister Naveen Patnaik to hold talks with farmers before going ahead with the proposed Posco steel project. “I have requested the Chief Minister to talk to the people who are likely to be affected due to Posco project. Unless farmers agree to sacrifice their lands, no force should be used,”...

-Kanglaonline.com   “The RTI appellants are targeted by persons holding high office and those in power, we are targeted for requesting information from the government. We have decided to unite to withstand this oppression”, stated W Joykumar, convener of Transparency Initiatives Manipur, a forum of RTI activist formed recently. Briefing media persons at its office, Joykumar said that the forum was set up after a meeting was held by RTI activists and other...

-The Indian Express   Great expectations are pinned to the upcoming monsoon session of Parliament, given the sheer volume of unfinished legislative business, and the amazing free fall of the past few months. The opposition’s passive-aggressive behaviour and the government’s reflexive obduracy over a JPC were the reason the winter session had to be written off, and that certainly contributed to the clear authority vacuum of recent months, even as agitations...