Maharashtra Home Minister R.R. Patil said on Monday that the situation was tense in Jaitapur after Minister of State for Environment Jairam Ramesh's statement that there was no going back on the proposed nuclear project. One person was killed in Police firing and several were injured as the protest against the nuclear power plant turned violent. Subhash Desai of the Shiv Sena told the Maharashtra Assembly that the incident was shocking and...
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Cement workers fighting for their rights by Aman Sethi
Company consistently violated tenets of Cement Wage Board Award ACC says it is studying the court ruling and examining options Every evening about 500 workers shrug off the exhaustion of an eight-hour shift to protest outside the premises of ACC Ltd.'s Jamul cement factory in Durg, Chhattisgarh. Closed fists swing rhythmically to chants of “Inqilab zindabad,” as factory veterans who have been protesting for 20 years stand beside young men with little...
More »Growth as tool to alleviate poverty
The Prime Minister's focus on double-digit growth is not due to any ‘growth mania'. It is for the benefit of the poor. At a recent function for police officers, the Prime Minister observed: “If we don't control Naxalism, we have to say goodbye to our country's ambition to sustain a growth rate of 10 to 11 per cent per annum.” Some commentators (like Prof Prabhat Patnaik of JNU) interpret this (in a...
More »Environmental impact assessment is a 'joke': Jairam Ramesh
The ministry will soon introduce a system to get a third party to conduct environmental assessments for projects in ecologically sensitive areas like wetlands or projects that involve multiple sectors, he said. "Frankly speaking, environmental impact assessment reports prepared for projects are bit of a joke. Under the system we have today, the person who is putting up the project prepares the report. Even reputed government institutions do cut and paste...
More »CBI arrests four in Netai firing case
The Central Bureau of Investigation arrested four persons from the Goaltore area of West Bengal's Paschim Medinipur district late on Sunday for their alleged involvement in the killing of nine residents of Netai village in a firing incident on January 7. These are the first arrests made by the CBI after it took over the case from the State's Criminal Investigation Department on February 22 acting on a Calcutta High Court...
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