-Pratirodh.com NAPM on Tuesday started a three-day demonstration at Jantar Mantar in Delhi to protest against the draft Land Acquisition Bill and demanded revision of the draft to incorporate changes suggested by a Parliamentary panel and civil society.   NAPM has organised the dharna in association with several other land rights and anti-displacement movements — like the National Forum of Forest people,Mazdoor Kisan Shakti Sangathan  and Forest workers — under the banner of...

-The Hindu Communist Party of India MP D. Raja has expressed concern at the State governments notifying buffer zones in tiger reserves. He argued that the move would violate the livelihood rights of lakhs of people. In a letter, he asked Prime Minister Manmohan Singh to halt the exercise and ensure that the Supreme Court is informed of the actual legal and ground positions. Failure to do so will amount to violation...

-The Hindu There is at last some clarity on the politics of the anti-corruption movements. Baba Ramdev’s dramatic call for Congress- hatao and the ‘political turn’ of the Anna movement have confirmed that a movement aimed at rooting out corruption cannot defer a direct encounter with party politics for very long. The manner in which both decisions were announced left something to be desired. The announcement by ‘Team Anna’ invited serious...

-The Times of India The Union ministry of environment and forests (MoEF) has set up a committee under the chairmanship of Planning Commission member K Kasturirangan to review the controversial Western Ghats ecology experts panel report, which had recommended restricting industrial development in about 75% of the hilly terrain spread across six states. The Western Ghats panel report was roundly criticized by the state governments and other infrastructure-related Central ministries. The Kasturirangan...

-The Hindu Certain section of population seeks relaxation of ban on tourism; specialists are against any dilution of the scheme The Tamil Nadu Government’s latest notifications on demarcation of core and buffer zones of three tiger reserves in the State may still require a fine-tuning to strike a balance among ecology protection, tribal welfare and tourism promotion, feel conservationists and wildlife experts. As the demand for relaxation of the ban on tourism becomes...