Paradip, Aug. 6: Reports of a tidal surge into the denuded forest pockets in the proposed Posco project area since Thursday night have caused concern among the local residents. However, officials have advised the villagers not to panic. “We have received reports of tidal waves’ ingress in some pockets of denuded forest areas. But there was no threat to the villages,” said Kujang tehsildar Vasudev Pradhan. “The forest used to check the...

The Lokpal Bill is in danger of skidding off the rails. As it is introduced in Parliament, eminent activist Aruna Roy tells Shoma Chaudhury why we should not rush into it. THE LOKPAL BILL is now being debated in Parliament, almost 40 years after the idea was first mooted. Unfortunately, parented on one side by decades of wilful government inertia and, on the other, by the panicked hustle of ‘Team...

Days after it was made public, the new land acquisition bill is facing resistance. While farmer’s unions and civil society groups want more — permanent rights over land,  even in case of a take over, prior consent of people even for public projects, state agencies and developers are unhappy over the restrictive nature of the bill. "As farmers, we would not like to part with our land but if required in larger...

-Express News Service   The state government, on Tuesday, sealed documents related to the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme in four blocks of Sonbhadra following reports of anomalies in implementation of the scheme in the district. The action was taken on the report on misappropriation of scheme funds submitted by Central investigation team early this year. The Central team was headed by GN Sharma, consultant, Union Ministry of Rural Development. On Monday,...

-The Hindustan Times   The government on Wednesday defended the allotment of land to the Rajiv Gandhi Charitable Trust in Haryana, saying it was done with the "full consent" of the village panchayat. "The land allotment had the full consent of the panchayat which had unanimously passed a resolution for leasing it for 33 years," I&B Minister Ambika Soni told reporters outside Parliament House. The land allotment to the trust in Gurgaon's...