Victims have not forgotten the following brutal tragedies in the life of independent India, even if the State and political parties may pretend to have. 1984—Delhi: On October 31, Prime Minister Indira Gandhi was assassinated by her two Sikh bodyguards in revenge for ‘Operation Bluestar’. For the next three days, as Doordarshan telecast the lying in state of her body, over 3000 Sikhs—men and boys—were burnt alive while policemen, politicians and...

-The Business Standard   The Jagatsinghpur district administration may resume land acquisition work for the Posco project at the anti-Posco stronghold of Gobindpur from Wednesday even though there is no official confirmation yet. In the run-up to the beginning of land acquisition at Gobindpur, the additional district magistrate of Paradip, Sarojkant Chaudhury today conducted a close-door preparatory meeting at Kujang. Narayan Jena, the Jagatsinghpur district collector said, “The administration is awaiting the views...

As the administration and the anti-industry brigade scaled up preparations for a showdown at Dhinkia gram panchayat in Jagatsinghpur district within the next few days, five political parties on Monday staged a civil disobedience agitation opposing the ongoing land acquisition for Posco steel project. Activists of CPI, CPM, Forward Bloc, Rashtriya Janata Dal and Samajwadi Party took out a rally from the Railway Station to PMG Square in Bhubaneswar, raising...

-The Business Standard   Five political parties stage protest against land acquisition Tension prevailed on Monday at the proposed Posco project site at Gobindpur village under Dhinkia panchayat as ten platoons of armed police conducted flag march ostensibly to create a fear psychosis among the local people ahead of the land acquisition process at trouble-torn Dhinkia panchayat. The situation is going to very critical at Gobindpur as the activists of Posco Pratirodha Sangram Samiti...

Like millions of others across India, I have spent the past week repelled by the spectacle of a weak government entering into improbable contortions over the naive and somewhat bizarre demands of Baba Ramdev. And when the “toughness” followed in the early hours of Sunday, it came in a typically cowardly fashion — with police action in the dead of the night against unarmed supporters who did not pose an...