Minister for Municipal Administration and Rural Development K.P. Munusamy on Saturday distributed Rs. 22.36 lakh as compensation to 834 farmers whose crops were damaged by wild elephants. The farmers who got the compensation cheques are from Krishnagiri, Hosur, Royakottai, Jawalagiri and Denkanikottai ranges. Four hundred and ninety nine farmers in Denkanikottai Forest range, who were the worst affected, got Rs. 11,12,300. In Jawalagiri Forest range 239 farmers received Rs. 7,65,950 as...

-NDTV   Protests continue to intensify against land acquisition for the proposed 12 billion dollar POSCO plant in Govindpur in Orissa. After warning the government of dire consequences in a statement on Friday, five political parties including the CPI, CPM and even civil society activists are expected to join in the protests. Nearly 2000 women, children and men have formed a human barricade to prevent the entry of police and administration in...

After two weeks of smooth land acquisition for Posco’s 12-million tonne steel plant in Jagatsinghpur, the district administration faced massive protests at Dhinkia, the epicentre of anti-Posco protests, as hundreds of children and women prostrated, preventing the entry of police and land acquisition officials. The land acquisition drive started on May 18 and so far, the district administration has acquired about 1,300 acres in Nuagaon and Gadakujang grampanchayats. But the district...

Victims have not forgotten the following brutal tragedies in the life of independent India, even if the State and political parties may pretend to have. 1984—Delhi: On October 31, Prime Minister Indira Gandhi was assassinated by her two Sikh bodyguards in revenge for ‘Operation Bluestar’. For the next three days, as Doordarshan telecast the lying in state of her body, over 3000 Sikhs—men and boys—were burnt alive while policemen, politicians and...

When it was almost certain that the governments of the country were to take their hands off from total acquisition of land for a private project, the Sonia Gandhi-led National Advisory Council has started thinking otherwise. The thought went out for hundred per cent acquisition by the government. Had this come at the germinal stage of discussion about changes in the colonial Act, it could have resulted in Mamata Banerjee’s face...