Octogenarian Sita Devi was in tears when district magistrate of Gonda, Ram Bahadur, handed her the land ownership title. She was five-year-old when her family was forced into bonded labour by British forest officers posted in Gorakhpur. The family was given a piece of land for planting trees and to grow crop for its survival. They family was shifted to other place after five years for the same job. From...

Amidst protest from anti-Posco activists, Orissa government on Wednesday resumed land acquisition work for Korean steel major’s proposed $12,000 (Rs 54,000 crore) steel plant near Paradip in Jagatsinghpur district, following union ministry for environment and forest’s final forest clearance to the project on May 2. Jagatsinghpur collector NC Jena said the teams comprising officials from the revenue department and Industrial Infrastructure Development Corporation (IIDO) were involved in the land acquisition process....

-PTI   Orissa government's move to resume land acquisition for Posco steel plant from Wednesday faced trouble today with villagers supporting the project announcing non-cooperation and opponents demanding relocation of the proposed plant site from the fertile land. "Though we want establishment of Posco steel plant here, we will not cooperate with the administration''s efforts of land acquisition process unless our demands are fulfilled," United Action Committee (UAC) president Anadi Charan Rout...

Union minister Jairam Ramesh's order notwithstanding, the state forest department is unwilling to transfer the rights over harvesting bamboos to forest dwellers. The department currently holds the right to harvest bamboo in the state. Its contention is that allowing villagers to cut bamboo will affect the sustainability of the produce as forest dwellers do not know the proper rules of harvest. Instead, the officials are ready to send the cut...

-Express News Service   Even as the State government readies for land acquisition for the Posco steel project, the Posco Pratirodh Sangram Samiti (PPSS), which is spearheading a movement against the project, has announced that it would oppose the process. To add to the woes, the United Action Committee (UAC), a pro-Posco outfit, has threatened not to cooperate with the Jagatsinghpur district administration for the land acquisition.   PPSS president Abhay Sahu told...