-The Hindu ‘Report has permitted uncontrolled quarrying in most parts of ghats' Kochi (Kerala): The Kasturirangan report has thrown open the ecologically sensitive areas of Western Ghats to mindless exploitation which would seriously hazard ecology, according to its critics. According to member of the Western Ghats Ecology Expert Panel (WGEEP) V.S. Vijayan: the report has in a way permitted uncontrolled quarrying in most parts of the ghats regions of the State. Those...

-The Telegraph Thiruvananthapuram: The Centre's move to implement an ecology panel's report on conservation of the Western Ghats has provoked a call for a 48-hour civil disobedience agitation by the Catholic Church in Kerala, starting Sunday midnight. The Church claims the K. Kasturirangan report, notified on Wednesday, will hit the livelihoods of farmers living in the "high ranges" - foothill areas bordering the forests - and force them to relocate. Green activists deny...

-The Hindu Chennai: A number of farmers, students and activists hit the streets on Saturday, taking a stand against genetically-modified crops. The march against Monsanto, a multinational chemical and agricultural biotechnology corporation, is being held in hundreds of cities as part of a global protest against genetically-modified food. Demonstrators on Marina beach held placards that read ‘Don't dig your own grave with your own knife and fork.' Genetically-modified crops are grown from seeds...

-Economic and Political Weekly   Much work remains to be done if the new Land Acquisition, Rehabilitation and Resettlement Act has to mark a meaningful shift for India's adivasi communities. Chitrangada Choudhury (chitrangada@csds.in) Chitrangada Choudhury (chitrangada@csds.in) is a multimedia journalist and researcher, and currently with the Publics and Policies program at the Centre for the Study of Developing Societies, New Delhi. Among the worst excesses committed in India's six decade-old democracy, the forcible displacment...

-The Times of India HYDERABAD/ VIJAYAWADA: With another round of talks between the government and protesters failing to end the impasse over bifurcation of Andhra Pradesh, the misery of denizens is increasing every minute across strife-torn Seemandhra. From a foundry worker in Vijayawada to an upper middle class banker in Visakhapatnam, the two-month strike, which has gathered more steam now has spared none, with heartrending stories of people suffering across the roiled...