-The Times of India KENDRAPADA: The state government has decided to facilitate the return of all 52 families, who were driven away from Dhinkia grampanchayat in Jagatsinghpur district about six years ago, for favouring the Posco project. "The district administration has chalked out plans to bring them back to their villages and has also decided to protect them. The National Human Rights Commission (NHRC) has also directed the administration recently to help...

-Live Mint Govt reiterates it will crack down hard on tax evaders, defends steps introduced in Finance Bill to check evasion The government on Tuesday reiterated its intention to crack down hard on tax evaders and defended some of the stringent provisions introduced in the Finance Bill last week to check evasion, including granting wider powers of arrest to taxmen and making certain offences non-bailable. Finance minister P. Chidambaram, in his budget speech...

-The Times of India BHUBANESWAR: The Odisha governmentresumed land acquisition for the proposed Poscosteel plant in Jagatsinghpur district on Sunday, a day after three people were killed in a bomb blast in the project area. Official sources said government representatives demolished three betel vines at Gobindapur village, restarting land takeover after about a month. The work was done amid the deployment of about a dozen platoons of security personnel. Jagatsinghpur collector...

-The Business Standard Budget underestimates food, fertiliser subsidies If the projections in the 2013-14 Budget are to be believed, subsidies on food and fertiliser which, along with petroleum subsidy, account for nearly 95 per cent of total subsidies are unlikely to rise much in the next financial year. This prognosis, reflected in an increase of just Rs 5,000 crore in food subsidy allocation and no change in the fertiliser subsidy, is odd;...

-The Business Standard The Union Budget shows the charitable instincts of the government continuing to overwhelm it - though some would call it part inefficiency and part helplessness. The exemptions given to citizens on the tax they ought to pay have been exceeding the Plan expenditure, and even the total fiscal deficit as it did in 2012-13. This has prompted criticism from the Left parties and activists, who view it as evidence...