In Rajasthan’s Neem ka Thana region, the echoes of mining explosives are like clockwork, on the hour every hour. For some time now, another feature has become almost routine here: houses, left unsteady by the explosions, propped up by wooden poles or bricks. Tired of no recourse and continued government harassment, villages have begun a movement to stop illegal mining, primarily led by ex-army servicemen. It began on March 1 this year...

The government will set up statelevel independent bodies to carry out financial and social audits of its flagship rural employment guarantee programme, which critics say is riddled with corruption. The rural development ministry will also make it mandatory for state governments to submit a report on the social audit, which unlike other government audits, allows beneficiaries of the scheme to register complaints. The move to increase transparency in the Mahatma...

The groundswell of public opinion is firmly against South Korean steelmaker Posco. Of the 536 farmers whose lands are to be acquired for the proposed Rs 32,000-crore integrated steel plant, 365 have said a clear 'no' . Just 25 farmers have agreed to hand over land provided they are paid a compensation of Rs 25 lakh per acre. The proposed compensation could be between Rs 4 lakh and Rs 8...

The sight on television was heartbreaking: children lying in rows in the searing sun to be human shields against the takeover of their land for Korean giant POSCO’s mega bucks project. Facing them were armed police sent by the state government to assist in the operation. The steel plant and port project, located in a coastal district of Odisha, has been in a six-year-long eyeball-to-eyeball battle with people whose land will...

The state government on Tuesday sent teachers to win over parents to stop their children from joining the anti-Posco agitation even as security forces reoccupied schools in the proposed project area after returning from Rath Yatra duty. The official move to segregate children from the agitators began a day after three members of the National Commission for Protection of Child Right (NCPCR) visited the place and interacted with children to...