The showpiece proposed iron and steel project in Orissa by South Korean steel major POSCO faces a huge cloud of uncertainty with an expert panel set up by the Environment Ministry alleging violations of environmental laws. Three of its four members today recommended that all initial clearances to the project be cancelled. The lone dissenting voice was that of former Environment Secretary Meena Gupta who argued that there was no need...

Five years ago, when the proposed National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (NREGA) was a subject of fierce controversy, Bunker Roy compared the attitude of the government to that of a dog who crosses a road half-way, can’t decide whether to go forward or backward, and gets run over. This enlightening image applies again today, in the context of the proposed National Food Security Act (NFSA). The National Advisory Council (NAC) discussed...

In an attempt to break the deadlock over the Land Acquisition (Amendment) Bill and the accompanying Resettlement and Rehabilitation Bill, finance minister Pranab Mukherjee has invited Trinamool Congress chief and railway minister Mamata Banerjee for talks on October 25. Ms Banerjee, who has strong reservations over the twin pieces of legislation, is, as per Trinamool Congress sources, unlikely to relent. Ms Banerjee’s stand is that the state should have absolutely no...

There’s no doubt about it, this is incredible India all right. Where else in the world would you get judges of a high court treating a deity as litigant in a legal case? And then, because the said deity, otherwise referred to as Ram Lalla in the judgment, is to be treated as a minor (was this the only reason He did not appear in court himself?) where else would...

The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) held a protest to demand the tabling of the Land Acquisition Amendment Act 2007 in the forthcoming winter session of the Parliament. This was part of the nationwide protests by the party. The kisan morcha of the party under the leadership of national president Om Prakash Dhankar held the protest at Khuda Alisher. The party has demanded that certain amendments be made in the Bill before...