The Orissa government would wait for the views of its department secretaries in the next two weeks before taking a call on the renewal of the MoU with POSCO. A high-level meeting of chaired by Chief Secretary B K Patnaik on Tuesday deferred a decision on recommending the revised POSCO MoU to the Chief Minister as several department secretaries indicated that they needed time to study the new points. The government...

-The Business Standard   The Jagatsinghpur district administration may resume land acquisition work for the POSCO project at the anti-POSCO stronghold of Gobindpur from Wednesday even though there is no official confirmation yet. In the run-up to the beginning of land acquisition at Gobindpur, the additional district magistrate of Paradip, Sarojkant Chaudhury today conducted a close-door preparatory meeting at Kujang. Narayan Jena, the Jagatsinghpur district collector said, “The administration is awaiting the views...

As the administration and the anti-industry brigade scaled up preparations for a showdown at Dhinkia gram panchayat in Jagatsinghpur district within the next few days, five political parties on Monday staged a civil disobedience agitation opposing the ongoing land acquisition for POSCO steel project. Activists of CPI, CPM, Forward Bloc, Rashtriya Janata Dal and Samajwadi Party took out a rally from the Railway Station to PMG Square in Bhubaneswar, raising...

"The Earth upon which the sea, and the rivers and waters, upon which food and the tribes of man have arisen, upon which this breathing, moving life exists, shall afford us precedence in drinking." - Prithvi Sukta, Atharva Veda Land is life. It is the basis of livelihoods for peasants and indigenous people across the Third World and is also becoming the most vital asset in the global economy. As the...

-The Business Standard   Five political parties stage protest against land acquisition Tension prevailed on Monday at the proposed POSCO project site at Gobindpur village under Dhinkia panchayat as ten platoons of armed police conducted flag march ostensibly to create a fear psychosis among the local people ahead of the land acquisition process at trouble-torn Dhinkia panchayat. The situation is going to very critical at Gobindpur as the activists of POSCO Pratirodha Sangram Samiti...