Not a comprehensive draft, says Medha Patkar The first major opposition to the draft National Land Acquisition and Rehabilitation and Resettlement Bill, 2011 will be in the form of a three-day dharna here beginning on Wednesday by the project-affected people. Various peoples' movements under the banner of SANGHARSH have decided to stage a dharna at Jantar Mantar protesting the new draft and demanding that the government come up with a comprehensive National...

NCPRI proposes bringing PM under Lokpal, suggests basket of anti-corruption measures The National Campaign for People's Right to Information (NCPRI) has proposed bringing the Prime Minister under the Lokpal with the safeguard that the executive head can only be investigated on the recommendation of the full benches of the Lokpal and the Supreme Court. At a consultative meeting held here on Friday, the NCPRI, which has two National Advisory Council members, Aruna...

The current debate on the Lokpal Bill is split along two lines: the UPA’s draft and that of Team Anna Hazare. But now, not just the political establishment, other sections of “civil society” are standing up to call for a wider debate and cautioning against a rush to push any version through. So while the Sonia Gandhi-led National Advisory Council may have made it clear that it wouldn’t discuss the Lokpal...

A day after the Orissa government halted land acquisition for the controversial Posco project, its detractors observed Wednesday as a 'Black Day' to protest the anniversary of the Memorandum of Understanding signed between the state government and the steel giant six years ago. On Tuesday, the Jagatsinghpur district administration suspended land acquisition for the 12-million tonne steel plant project after protests escalated in Gobindpur village with leaders of the Congress, CPI,...

Support for the agitation against forceful land acquisition for the proposed mega steel plant project of Posco in Jagatsinghpur district of Orissa grew larger on Monday, forcing the administration to refrain from acquiring any land during the day. Many social activists, including Medha Patkar, Banwari Lal Sharma of Azadi Bachao Andolan, and noted Gandhian Amarnath Bhai, visited the agitating villagers at Govindpur village and raised their voice against the involvement of...