Posco, whose mega steel project in Orissa’s Jagatsinghpur district hangs in balance after Ministry of Environment and Forests issued a stop-work order last week, has now questioned the Naveen Patnaik government’s plan to reserve 90 per cent jobs in the unskilled and semi-skilled category for “local people” for all upcoming industrial projects. A High Level Clearance Authority of the state government chaired by Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik recently cleared a proposal...

The Jagatsinghpur district administration has refuted the claims of National Forest Rights Act (NFRA) committee on presence of Other Traditional Forest Dwellers (OTFDs) at the Posco project site and also on seeking the consent of gram sabha for diversion of forest land for the project. Contrary to the observations of the committee, the district collector said, there is no proof of any villager cultivating the forest land for the last three...

South Korean steelmaker Posco’s wait just got longer with the Union environment ministry directing Orissa government to stop all work at the project site, including land acquisition. The decision was taken after the N C Saxena-Devendra Pandey committee, appointed by the Centre, reported violations of the Forest Rights Act (FRA) at the Posco site. For its part, the state government has said that it will take “corrective and accurate steps”...

Days after Union Steel Minister Virbhadra Singh lauded the Karnataka government for imposing a ban on iron ore export, Union Mines Minister B.K. Handique came down strongly on the State government for failing to get its act together on checking illegal mining. In a harshly worded letter to Karnataka Chief Minister B.S. Yeddyurappa, Mr. Handique stated that banning iron ore export was not the right approach. Rather, it was a “sad...

Jharkhand today declared 12 districts drought-hit, acknowledging that poor rainfall had affected crop cultivation and setting in motion usual administrative measures to initiate relief measures on a war footing. At a meeting of the governor’s advisory council, the 12 districts were identified as Latehar, Ramgarh, Chatra, Seraikela-Kharsawan, Khunti, East Singhbhum, Jamtara, Palamau, Dhanbad, Bokaro, Ranchi and Jamtara. The Telegraph had reported yesterday that the governor’s council was likely to name the districts...