ENVIRONMENT MINISTER DISREGARDS FINDINGS OF HIS OWN REVIEW AND STATUTORY CLEARANCES COMMITTEES The following is the statement issued to the press by Abhay Sahoo, President of the POSCO Pratirodh Sangram Samiti (PPSS), and Prashant Paikeay, the PPSS spokesperson, on January 31, 2010. The decision of Environment Minister Jairam Ramesh to give a comprehensive okay to the POSCO India Steel Power Production-Captive Port project, based on some additional conditions, is nothing short of...

More than 10,000 tribals in the area covering 15 villages along the Andhra-Orissa border held Peace rallies on Friday seeking kidnapped collector Vineel Krishna's release. Though no bandh call was given, normal life was paralysed in tribal-dominated areas on both sides of Andhra-Orissa border as schools, colleges, offices and shops remained closed for the second day in a protest against the kidnapping. Hundreds of tribals in the Balimela reservoir area staged a...

The Army suffers from acute gender bias to deny permanent commission to women officers who work shoulder to shoulder with male officers to assist and support troops in combat zones, Major Seema Singh has told the Supreme Court. "The policies for women in Army not only discriminate her against male officers but also lower her status to that of a jawan/junior commissioned officer, whom she has been leading for 14...

Social activist Swami Agnivesh established contact with the Maoists late on Thursday after the Orissa government requested him to negotiate the release of abducted Malkangiri district collector RV Krishna. Based on their conversation with Agnivesh, the Maoists extended the deadline for the release of the officer. ( Read: To free Orissa IAS officer, Maoists want 700 in return ) ''I insist chief minister Naveen Patnaik should now take the initiative and...

The world's second largest national headcount operation, the Census of India, is significant for several reasons. The largest Peace-time administrative activity of the Indian state is also the third since economic liberalisation was initiated. Three decades is enough time for a nation to assess the economic impact and implications of a change in macroeconomic policies, and hence Census 2011 should provide statistical insights into what the move away from state-led...