Natives of Niyamgiri feel that the police is acting as an agent of the Vedanta group, playing dirty tricks to help the company go ahead with its plans to mine bauxite from the sacred hills ONE OF the world’s most controversial mines is back in the spotlight after hundreds protested against renewed efforts to mine odisha’s Niyamgiri Hills. Dongria Kondh and Niyamgiri supporters held their own ‘public hearing’ in odisha...

Mamata Banerjee skipped today’s meeting on internal security but sought to extract her pound even in absentia. The Bengal chief minister asked the UPA government to bear the entire cost of deploying central forces for anti-Maoist operations in the states, arguing that Left-wing extremism (LWE) had “implications” for national security. “The LWE problem is not an ordinary law-and-order problem affecting a particular state. It has serious implications on national security. It would,...

Jharkhand numbers better than Bihar, Chhattisgarh; but chief minister Munda beset with own problems Controversial as it may have become, Planning Commission data indicates that poverty levels have fallen in Jharkhand in spite of well documented bouts of political instability that have often plagued the Maoist-hit state. The latest data released by the commission suggests that the number of poor in Jharkhand dipped by 6.2 per cent between 2004-05 and 2009-10, a...

Officials may pocket the wage increases, but the wage level in MGNREGA seems just enough to induce workers to turn up. This year marks the sixth anniversary of the implementation of the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (MGNREGA), India's landmark right-to-work programme. The Act guarantees 100 days of paid employment to every rural household in India (up to 850 million people), regardless of eligibility criteria, and establishes the government's...

-IANS A fast track court in odisha Tuesday acquitted a top Maoist leader's wife in a 2003 shootout case for lack of evidence, sources said. Her release was sought by the rebels in exchange for an Italian who has been held captive by them since last month.  The fast track court at Gunpur in Rayagada district acquitted Subhashree Das, wife of Maoist leader Sabyasachi Panda, who was behind last month's abduction of...