The officials were released by Balisahi residents with a warning that they should not return to acquire land In a dramatic turn of events, senior administration and police officials of Orissa's Jagatsinghpur district had a bitter experience on Monday when they went to carry out land acquiSITion for the proposed mega steel project of Posco. Women took the lead in expressing their anger when they threw their broomsticks at the Additional District...

-The Hindustan Times   The Orissa government on Monday again deployed police force near the Gobindpur-Nuagaon village border, the SITe of a strident anti-Posco agitation, but withdrew it following widespread protests. Declaring the “use of children” in the protests “illegal”, the government moved in to pave the way for resuming land acquiSITion for the Korean steel major's $12 billion (R54,000 crore) project. However, the protesters stood firm. Since June 8, villagers have been...

-PTI   To step in to prevent “more Nandigrams” The Supreme Court on Monday criticised the Uttar Pradesh government for acquiring prime agricultural land to build luxury flats in Greater Noida and questioned the invoking of an urgency clause that bars farmers from raising objections. It noted it would step in to prevent “more Nandigrams.” “Whose residential use are these flats for? Who is building them? What are the prices? We want to...

-The Economic Times   West Bengal government on Monday filed a caveat in Supreme Court so that no petition by Tata Motors Ltd (TML) over the Singur land issue is heard on ex-parte basis. The move was made subsequent to TML counsel Samaraditya Pal's efforts to (a) first get an exparte ad-interim stay on land distribution at Singur which was turned down by Justice Soumitra Pal (b) then appeal to a...

Even as the number on attacks RTI activists in the state have become frighteningly routine, political leaders who have come under the scanner, mostly from the ruling BJP, are still untouched. In the latest incident in which Porbandar-based advocate and social worker Bhagu Devani was stabbed on last Friday, police have arrested Laku Odedara, brother of former Porbandar Nagarpalika president Vikram Odedara, along with three others but former irrigation minister Babu...