-NDTV Bhubaneswar: The Odisha government has put off the land acquisition for Rs. 52,000 crore Posco steel plant in Jagatsinghpur district today after protests by local villagers since the process resumed last week. The police force deployed at the Gobindpur village near the Posco site will also be withdrawn for now. The move comes a day after standoff between villagers and police when the cops allegedly tried to enter the village. The agitators, including...

-Outlook Lamenting that standard of teachers in not up to the mark and learning outcomes are below expectations, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh today said "major concerns" in the field of education need to be addressed. Singh also noted that "drop-out rates in schools remain high after the elementary level. Some major concerns relating to equity also remain to be addressed." The Prime Minister's comments come a day after he regretted that none of...

-The Economic Times Beginning today, the country's highest court will hear petitions filed by telecom-industry lobbies challenging a recent Rajasthan High Court order that directed telecom companies to remove cellphone towers from schools, hospitals, jails and heritage buildings in the state amid claims that tower radiation was harmful. Officials of two leading industry associations, representing mobile operators and telecom tower companies, feel the Supreme Court's verdict in the case could set...

-The Hindu As many as 20 platoons of armed policemen stood guard as land acquisition for Posco’s proposed steel plant project resumed at the break of dawn on Sunday, with the demolition of betel vineyards in and around Gobindpur village in this coastal gram panchayat of Odisha’s Jagatsinghpur district. The administration was trying to acquire 700 acres for the project, in addition to the 2,000 acres already acquired, by demolishing around 400...

-Outlook Caste has nothing to do with graft. Even so, Nandy must be heard. Forging a link, however tenuous, between caste and corruption is akin to saying  that the average Indian male  has sex on his mind, caste and communalism in his heart and indigestion in his tummy. That was an irreverent response to the sweeping statement made by the “ageing enfant terrible” of Indian sociology, Ashis Nandy, during a discussion...