Northern Assam's Lakhimpur district Administration on Thursday halted the movement of an Over Dimensional Consignment (ODC) trailer carrying equipment for the 2000 mega watt lower Subonsiri hydro-electric power project under construction at Gerukamukh in Arunachal Pradesh after 4000 anti-big dam protesters blocked National Highway 52 to prevent the trailer from proceeding to the site. The protesters under the banner of the All-Assam Students Union (AASU), the All Asom Jatiyatabadi Yuba Chatra...

-The Telegraph   Dispur today said it was open to hold discussions with the anti-dam activists, a section of whom began a fresh agitation in Lakhimpur town this morning when a vehicle carrying machinery for the Subansiri hydel power project tried to proceed towards the project site in Dhemaji. Protests began when a truck carrying a “big machine” for the project left Thelamara in Sonitpur district yesterday morning and reached Lakhimpur town around...

-EPW   Will the blatant discrimination against Muslims in the Administration of justice ever end? The word secular was inserted into the Preamble of the Indian Constitution by the 42nd amendment in 1976; later on, the Supreme Court, in S R Bommai vs Union of India, held (in 1994) that secularism was an integral part of the basic structure of the Constitution. And yet, it has been a long time coming – Indian...

Union rural development minister Jairam Ramesh admitted lapses of the past but spoke of a new beginning today in Saranda while unveiling an action plan for the forest region that was under the shadow of Maoist terror for over a decade. Armed with goodies like bicycles and transistor radios for residents of Chotanagra panchayat, about 120km from district headquarters of Chaibasa, Ramesh made it clear that the implementation of the development...

Four deadly cobras among 40 snakes unleashed by farmers in latest anti-corruption protest in northern India Two farmers fed up with bribery demands have dumped three sacks filled with snakes on the floor of a busy tax office in northern India. The 40 or so snakes of different sizes and species, including at least four deadly cobras, sent clerks and villagers climbing on to tables and scurrying out of the door to...