-Outlook   In a boost to ongoing land acquisition for Posco project, Orissa government today accepted all the six core demands of the residents of plant site villages, including jobs and other facilities, officials said. "The demands of villagers are justified and, therefore, we accepted them. We have assured the members of United Action Committee (UAC) that the state government will consider their case sympathetically," Revenue Divisional Commissioner (RDC) P K Mohapatra...

The success of the institution of Lokpal will depend on limiting its scope to the very top of the hierarchy. That will make it manageable and lead to accountability down the line. The drafting of the Lokpal bill is back in the news after the round of Assembly elections. The co-chairperson of the high-power committee involved in the drafting has said that progress is slow and that the June 30 deadline...

-The Economic Times   With the land acquisition work for Posco project near Paradip picking up gradually, Orissa government had decided to renew the lapsed MoU with the South Korean steel major before June, official sources today said. The state government would renew MoU with Posco before end of June, Orissa Steel and Mines minister Raghunath Mohanty. "We have decided to hold a meeting soon to take final decision on the...

The state Election Commission will crosscheck its electoral roll data with the database of the National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (NREGA) as part of its target of 100 per cent Photo Electoral Roll (PER) in Uttar Pradesh. The details of NREGA beneficiaries and their photographs in the database, wherever available, will be used for updating the PER. The EC recently sent a letter to the Chief Electoral Officer of Uttar Pradesh expressing...

-The Times of India   For a government harping on transparency and accountability, a glance through the websites of various departments brings to the fore the pathetic state of the implementation of the RTI Act. Incidentally, it was Rajasthan that laid the foundation for this law. A survey by the Suchna Evum Rozgar Ka Adhikar Abhiyan, based on the websites of 64 government departments, shows that there are at least 17...