A large white tent in the middle of an arid ground in Jind served as the venue for a Sarv Maha Khap Panchayat meeting on Sunday. Organisers who were expecting “thousands of supporters” to join their ranks to announce “threats” aimed at everyone from the government to young couples who choose to marry within the same gotra (sub-caste) were in for a disappointment. By 12 noon, two hours after the...

The Jagatsinghpur district administration will start a field-survey for the proposed steel plant of South Korean major Posco from tomorrow. “We have already completed the groundwork. Six teams have been constituted for this and survey will begin at the proposed site from Tuesday,” Jagatsingpur district collector Narayan Chandra Jena said. According to the government order, the district administration would exclude Dhinkia village, the epicentre of the anti-Posco movement, from the survey. Posco requires...

Says India is obliged under international law to protect right to life  Wants impartial inquiry into reports of excessive use of force by police ‘Force must be used in accordance with international standards' Amnesty International (AI) has urged the authorities in Orissa to halt immediately unnecessary and excessive use of force by police and private civil militias on Adivasi (indigenous communities) and peasants protesting against the acquisition of their lands and habitats...

May 21 to be observed as ‘protest day' across Orissa  “Naveen Patnaik compromising people's interests for land acquisition” Public meeting to be held at Balitutha to express solidarity with villagers BHUBANESWAR: Several Opposition parties and mass organisations of Orissa on Sunday condemned the police action against villagers opposing the Posco-India's steel project in Jagatsinghpur district. They also warned the Biju Janata Dal government against using police force on innocent people to acquire...

Six non-Congress, non-BJP and non-BJD political parties and six other grassroot organizations opposed to proposed Posco steel project on Sunday called for state-wide protests on May 20 and May 21 in reaction to “police excesses” on anti-Posco activists in Jagatsinghpur district of Orissa. The decision to observe the protest day was taken at a meeting of the political parties including CPI, CPM, Forward Bloc, JMM, RJD and SJP at CPI’s...