As the world watches peaceful protests of villagers against Land Acquisition for Posco project in Orissa, a silent protest is brewing in Chamba district of Himachal Pradesh against number of small hydro projects in the Saal valley of the district. Since April this year the villagers from eight panchayats have prevented the construction of small dam hydro projects on Hull river, a tributary of river Ravi. “We have been sitting on a...

-The Economic Times   The draftLand Acquisition bill could provide muscle to the farmers' agitations as it has proposed a higher stake for the displaced from the sale of acquired land. Put simply, a farmer would have to be given an additional sum -- the bill proposes 20%-- in the event of the acquired land being resold at a higher price by its developer. This proposal is certain to provide fresh impetus...

It was the end of a long, tiring and humid day. Sitting near the bamboo gate of his 'precious' betel vineyard, 70-year-old Narayan Mandal said despondently, "I don't want to migrate, once again." Mandal, a resident of Gobindpur village in Orissa's Jagatsinghpur district, is one of the many opposing the state government's ambitious $12 billion Posco steel project. For the last six years, three gram panchayats - Dhinkia, Nuagaon and Gada...

P Sainath, Rural Affairs Editor, The Hindu and 2007 Magsaysay award winner, shares with Pradeep Baisakh his views on the POSCO project, Odisha farmers’ suicides and the National Food Security Bill You have visited Odisha quite often. How, in your view, has it changed in the last 20 years? Inequalities have increased massively. Earlier, we used to hire jeeps which were falling apart. Today, to go to Kalahandi, you have Innovas,...

The Noida-Greater Noida imbroglio will be instructive for the draft Land Acquisition bill In The Works...     * Government to acquire land, “public purpose” to be redefined     * Land Acquisition only after getting written consent of 80 per cent of landowners     * Monitoring authority to be set up at the Centre and states to ensure compliance     * Payment component split into part-cash-down and remaining in annuity for 33 years     * Post...