-PTI   The barriers erected by villagers to cordon off South Korean steel major Posco's proposed steel plant in Orissa's Jagatsinghpur district have been removed, paving the way for site preparatory activities to resume on the much-delayed Rs 52,000 crore project. Work at the project site resumed on Saturday, after a gap of 25 days, when locals removed two bamboo gates erected by them at Gadakujang and Nuagaon following talks with state government...

National Infrastructure Equity Audit conducted in 125 gram panchayats in five States There is a continued prevalence of deep-rooted caste-based inequity in the contribution and availability of infrastructure and, hence, of the accessibility of services and entitlements, a report has suggested. The Scheduled Castes (SC), the Scheduled Tribes (ST) and minorities do not have access to functional infrastructure facilities as they are ‘merely situated in the general or backward classes habitations,' according...

-The Economic Times   The Orissa High Court on Friday stayed the acquisition of land for building the much-delayed 12-million tonne Posco project, dealing a further setback to the India plans of the South Korean steel major which has not been able to progress much for the past five years. In a ruling on Friday, the high court ordered status quo on the private land being acquired by the state government that...

-The Times of India   Tension gripped the site of the proposed Posco steel project in Jagatsinghpur district on Friday after 20 anti-land acquisition villagers were arrested on charges of preventing entry of officials and police into the villages. Police also dismantled two wooden barricades built by the villagers to bar the entry of "outsiders". "We arrested Niranjan Swain, Pravat Palei, Achuti Das, Srimanta Parida, Bhamara Rout, Tushar Nayak , Narayan Parida and...

A report from a sample survey of the functioning of the public distribution system in 12 villages in two districts in Orissa, a state usually associated with a poor PDS. While there are errors in exclusion and inclusion of households covered, there has been a vast improvement in operation of the PDS; below the poverty line households seem to be receiving their entitlements. The households also express a strong preference...