Lauri Myllyvirta, the Finnish Greenpeace campaigner who visited the Jaitapur nuclear power project area in Ratnagiri district last year, has denied that he showed any films or other material like photos to the local people agitating against the project. In an email interview from Indonesia, Mr. Myllyvirta said these claims were absurd. He visited the area on November 20, 2010 and left the next day. On Monday, Maharashtra Chief Minister Prithviraj Chavan...

The Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee scheme (MGNREGS) is bringing about a silent revolution in rural areas in this drought-prone district. The Prime Minister, Dr Manmohan Singh, inaugurated the programme in a remote village, Bandlapalli, in Anantapur district on February 2, 2006. Since then, the scheme has been providing employment to rural youth and checking migration from the district. About 700 residents in Malakavaripalli thanda in Tumula village panchayat in...

The Orissa government seems to have landed in an embarrassing spot in connection with the submission of report to the Union ministry of environment & forests (MoEF) on the issue of compliance with Forest Rights Act (FRA) at the Posco site. Though the state government had exuded confidence to send the report to the ministry before the end of February, claimants of FRA at the project site appeared to have played...

The Right to Food Campaign on Monday announced its decision to launch a country-wide protest against the National Advisory Council's framework for the proposed National Food Security Bill, which, they said, fell short of people's expectation of a comprehensive food security bill that addressed nutrition and Livelihood issues. “Even the budget proposals show no commitment to food security of people,” Campaign Convener Kavita Srivastava told journalists here. Failed to seize opportunity “By proposing...

The CPM’s top leadership has advised comrades in poll-bound Bengal to focus on corruption and price rise and how the Centre was playing with the “Livelihood of the poor” but warned against targeting Mamata Banerjee personally. “Too much attack” on the rival could prove counterproductive, a top leader said. The decision to concentrate on graft and price rise came as the CPM politburo and central committee met in New Delhi today. Sources...