Land acquisition by the Karnataka Industrial Areas Development Board for the proposed steel plant by South Korean steel giant Posco in Gadag district has run into rough weather. The main reasons for the villagers' opposition are that 3,300 acres identified for the project in Halligudi village off National Highway 63, about 500km from Bangalore, are fertile land and agriculture is the villagers' only source of income. KIADB special land acquisition...

An RTI activist Baghu Dewani was attacked by unidentified persons in Porbander in Gujarat on Friday. Dewani has been hospitalised after he was stabbed by unidentified persons. Dewani is said to be in a serious condition in the hospital. The 65-year-old advocate-activist Bhaghubahi Dewani was first assaulted with sticks by two unidentified persons and then stabbed thrice in the abdomen. The assailants then fled the scene. Dewani has accused former BJP minister...

-The Times of India   The CBI has refused to make public information about disproportionate asset cases against government servants, including bureaucrats and ministers, after last week's exemption under RTI Act given by the government. The Centre, through a notification issued on June 9, placed the agency in the organisations listed in the second schedule of Section 24 of the RTI Act which also comprises intelligence and security agencies. "The government...

Eco-activism has Punjab’s polluters in a tizzy Operation Clean-Up     * Industrial and organic pollution from the Sutlej and the Beas is affecting southern districts of Punjab and parts of Rajasthan     * A popular movement straddling both states and helmed by eco-activist Baba Balbir Singh     * Seechewal has the election-bound state government worried     * Seechewal organised a massive exercise to prevent the Kala Sanghian, a highly polluted Sutlej tributary, from draining...

More than five years have passed since the world’s largest employment programme was launched in India. The scale of employment generated was not the only reason that this is a path breaking legislation. The MGNREGA is the first national law to establish rights in the development sector. It is demand based, and not constrained by arbitrary and restrictive selections like the Below Poverty Line (BPL) list. Any person living in a...