Writer and activist Arundhati Roy, winner of the 1997 Man Booker prize for “The God of Small Things,” is undoubtedly India’s iconoclast no.1. During the launch of her two latest books—“Broken Republic” and “Walking With the Comrades” —on Friday evening, she came to the defence of the military tactics of India’s Maoists in her polemical best: “When you have 800 CRPF [Central Reserve Police Force, a paramilitary force deployed to fight...

Octogenarian Sita Devi was in tears when district magistrate of Gonda, Ram Bahadur, handed her the land ownership title. She was five-year-old when her family was forced into bonded labour by British forest officers posted in Gorakhpur. The family was given a piece of land for planting trees and to grow crop for its survival. They family was shifted to other place after five years for the same job. From...

-Mainstream Weekly   DEMAND AT PRESS CONFERENCE IN NEW DELHI A press conference was held in New Delhi on May 4, 2011 to protest against the Union Ministry of Environment and Forest’s “final clearance” to the POSCO project in Odisha. The following is the press release issued by the POSCO Pratirodh Solidarity (PPS-Delhi) in association with NFFPFW, CSD, NAPM, INSAF, and others at the press conference. The ‘final forest clearance’ by the Ministry...

The land acquisition for the proposed mega steel project of Posco in Orissa's Jagatsinghpur district has been postponed following stiff resistance from villagers supporting as well as opposing the venture. The State Government had to stop the land acquisition work on Friday after the villagers supporting the venture protested, demanding that the process be completely stopped till their six-point demands are met. As many as 33 members of the United Action Committee...

A renowned wildlife scientist, Ravi Chellam has been eased out as head of the country's foremost wildlife conservation NGO -- Wildlife Conservation Society-India -- for being part of a government committee that backed tribal rights over Forest Lands under the Forest Rights Act. Officially, the NGO has asked Chellam to sign on a separation agreement but sources said that he was given a 'leave or be thrown out' notice by...