The Planning Commission’s definition of poverty is inexplicable In the urban sprawl that is Delhi, as in any other metro in the country, earning no more than Rs 25 per day with a family to support would prove nightmarish. Food and clothes have to be bought, there may be school-going children, colds, fevers or upset stomachs to get treated, someone with a chronic problem needing long-term treatment. Surely, someone living...

-The Hindu   Orissa High Court today issued notices to the State and Central governments and Posco India on a PIL alleging illegal forest clearance granted in favour of the company for a steel plant in Jagatsinghpur district. A division bench of Chief Justice V Gopal Gowda and Justice B N MoHApatra of the HC issued the notices after preliminary hearing on a PIL and adjourned the matter to be heard again...

-The Business Standard   HC issues notices to Centre, state govt and Posco India on PILs filed by affected villagers Land acquisition work for the Posco project suffered a setback on the third day today due to non-cooperation of the villagers who backed out of the process as a mark of protest over the arrest of 32 activists of United Action Committee (UAC), a pro-Posco outfit on Thursday. Faced with the resistance of...

-The Business Standard   After a smooth beginning to the Posco land acquisition work on Wednesday, the Jagatsinghpur district administration today faced a roadblock in the process as many villagers did not turn up for identification of betel vines following the arrest of 32 activists of United Action Committee, a pro-Posco outfit. UAC had boycotted the land acquisition work as it was aggrieved over the non-fulfillment of its demands. On the wee hours...

If the problems are macro, think micro. That seems to have been the guiding principle for Lekha-Mendha, the Maharashtra village that last month became the first in India to win the right to grow, harvest and sell bamboo. Such rights are the key goal of a five-year-old central law which aims to give tribal communities control over some resources of the jungles they live in. “There is no point in looking out...