Brushing aside protests from a section of landowners, a determined district administration today stepped up its land acquisition drive in Gadakujang and Nuagaon gram panchayats. Simultaneously, the authorities also worked out strategies for taking up the drive in the Dhinkia gram panchayat, the nerve-centre of anti-Posco movement. “The land acquisition process was peaceful barring a few cases where people expressed unwillingness but we managed to prevail over them,” said special land acquisition...

-The Times of India   A Elayaraja (30), an RTI activist from Thirugnanasambanthan village, Sirkazhi in Nagapattinam district, has filed a complaint with the state director general of police and the chief minister's special cell, asking for police protection from S Ravi (40), president of Alalasundaram panchayat under which Elayaraja's village falls. In his complaint, Elayaraja has alleged that panchayat president S Ravi (40) is threatening him and his family members...

-PTI   A desperate government's efforts failed today to achieve any breakthrough with Baba Ramdev deciding to go ahead with his indefinite fast here from tomorrow amidst indications that a compromise was likely in a day or two. For nearly five hours, two senior union ministers Kapil Sibal and Subodh Kant Sahay negotiated with the yoga guru over his demands on eradication of corruption at a posh hotel, a venue totally different...

-The Hindu   The South Asia Media Commission India has expressed deep concern over the suggestion of a government-appointed committee to use official advertisements to manage the media. The suggestion is contained in the report of the Sri Krishna Committee, formed by the Union government to study the Telangana issue. Part of a secret note, it comes to light in a judgment of the Andhra Pradesh High Court on a petition on...

Development has a multiplier effect in terms of employm-ent, secondary activity and revenue to state, while delay entails loss for everybody. Tolstoy’s famous question, “How much land does a man require?” was answered when the Count who had ruthlessly exploited his serfs was buried in a grave measuring 7x4x4 feet. And that, Tolstoy concluded, was all the land a man requires. Is corporate and infrastructural greed in India today destroying the small,...