Illegal iron ore mining involving hundreds of Indian officials and powerful politicians has devastated local communities in the southern state of Karnataka and cost its treasury more than $3.5 billion in revenue, according to a scathing report by an official antiCorruption panel that was released on Wednesday. “In the illegal mining and irregularities committed in the export of iron ore, we have found the involvement of some 100 mining companies,...

-The Times of India   KENDRAPADA: Right to Information campaigner and Magsaysay award winner Aruna Roy has asked the state government to stop construction and tree felling works for the proposed steel plant of Posco in the seaside gram panchayats of Dhinkia, Nuagaon and Gadakujang in Jagatsinghpur district and have a public debate on the issue. Roy visited the villages in the proposed steel plant site on Sunday in support of the...

The battle lines are drawn: it is the government versus "civil society" in India now. A controversial anti-Corruption bill has been tabled in parliament, and a showdown with "civil society" representatives, backed by an energetic section of the media, looms. After months of wrangling with activists led by folksy anti-Corruption campaigner Anna Hazare, the government says it has cobbled together the best possible legislation. It is called the Lokpal bill but Mr Hazare...

The Union Government has announced that it would bring the Lokpal Bill in the monsoon session of Parliament which is expected to pass it in the winter session. The all-party meeting held on the Lokpal issue damned the civil society and passed a one-line resolution: “The all-party meeting agreed that the government should bring before the next session of Parliament a strong and effective Lokpal Bill following established procedures.” The...

-The Associated Press   She waited 1 1/2 hours at the hospital, only to see a nurse who yelled that she was "lying about being in labor." Three hours later, her baby was born dead. Another woman gave birth on the street, steps away from a clinic that twice turned her away, saying her time had not come. Several other women interviewed by Human Rights Watch said their legs were pinched and faces slapped...