State has been directed to set up a separate development authority The Centre has asked the Jharkhand government to show urgency on both security and development matters in the Left-Wing-Extremism-affected Saranda Forest. The State has been directed to set up a separate development authority to carry forward its initiative to provide basic amenities to 7,000 tribal families in the Forest, and demanded early allocation of land for setting up 24 more CRPF...

-PTI The conflict between men and elephants came to the fore once again in Orissa's Ganjam district when wild tuskers trampled to death a 57-year-old man and injured a girl at a village. Dandasi Muduli (57) died on the spot when he was attacked by a herd of wild elephants outside village Biripur yesterday while on way to a pond for a bath. Before the incident, the tuskers had attacked a girl who...

-The Times of India   Amid complaints from opposition Congress about corruption in Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme (MNREGS) and other schemes, Union Minister for Rural Development Jairam Ramesh will tour four districts of Madhya Pradesh to review implementation the centrally sponsored schemes.  Ramesh is expected to tour Sagar, Jabalpur, Mandla and Bhopal districts to review theMNREGS and implementation of other rural development schemes, particularly in the light of complaints of...

-The Times of India   Armed tribals on Wednesday blocked the Bhanjanagar-Dasaplla road at Gayaganda in Ganjam district in protest against the arrest of 29 tribals from Ambajahari within Tarsingi Forest range. Forest personnel raided the reserve Forest and arrested these people for constructing their house by encroaching upon Forest land and chopping trees, divisional Forest officer, Ghumusar (South) B B Behera said. Behera said the encroachers tried to attack the Forest personnel...

-The Times of India   A 48-hour bandh began in the Visakha Agency with hundreds of tribals with the support of all political parties enforcing it to protest the proposed bauxite mining in the area. The tribals themselves checked all vehicles in a bid to prevent the central expert committee from going ahead and conducting its survey. The four-man committee appointed by the Union ministry of environment and Forests was scheduled to undertake...