-The Telegraph   An international sympathiser group for Indian Maoists has declared it will protest outside offices of Indian multinationals worldwide, adding to problems the government already faces in combating the home-grown rebels. Last week, the International Committee to Support the People’s War in India announced the plan to launch its “international week of action from January 14 to 22” next year to support the CPI (Maoist)’s “people’s war” against the Indian state. The...

-The Hindu Reiterating its opposition to the Pension Fund Regulatory & Development Authority Bill, the Communist Party of India (Marxist) on Thursday said it should not be passed by Parliament. In a statement, the party Polit Bureau said the Bill would deprive lakhs of government employees, both at the Central and State levels, of their right to get an assured rate of pension at the time of retirement, which they had been...

After being mired in controversies across the nation over multi-crore scams, the MGNREGA scheme hasn’t quite made headway in Bulandshahr district’s Anupshahr yet, say Bhamati Sivapalan and Yamini Deenadayalan “MGNREGA is a flop in Uttar Pradesh,” extended NGO worker Manish Sharma, as small talk, at the block development office of Anupshahr in the Bulandshahr district of Uttar Pradesh. Despite having been in force since 2005, the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment...

Two Maoists were killed and two security personnel of the 10th Naga Battalion seriously injured in an encounter that began shortly after two Trinamool Congress supporters were shot dead by a group of left wing extremists at Ghatbera in the Balarampur area of West Bengal's Purulia district on Monday evening. The gun-battle continued through the night till early on Tuesday. The exchange of fire occurred when the security forces ambushed the Maoist...

-The Hindu   A few recommendations by the Indian Council of Forestry and Research and Education (ICFRE) have upset the National Council for Protection of Natural Resources (NCPNR), which is fighting a legal battle against illegal mining in Karnataka and Andhra Pradesh. The ICFRE which carried out a macro-level Environment Impact Assessment (EIA) study of Bellary district following a direction from the Supreme Court had submitted its report to the court recently. Recommendations such...