-The Hindu Attacked for taking on Jindal Steel and Power Ltd, claim supporters Ramesh Agrawal, an environmental activist who clashed with powerful steel and coal interests in Chhattisgarh’s coal-rich Raigarh district, was attacked by unidentified assailants and shot through the thigh on Saturday morning. Mr. Agrawal has been hospitalised. Sarita Rath, a member of the Jan Chetna Manch, Mr. Agrawal’s NGO, said he had been attacked at the behest of officials from Jindal...

-The Telegraph Union rural development minister Jairam Ramesh will try to persuade the Centre not to allow any more private mining companies to operate in the mineral-rich Saranda forests, a former Maoist stronghold that is now the focus of a massive rejuvenation plan. If the minister, who toured the West Singhbhum forests yesterday, has his way, at least 20 companies, including steel behemoths like ArcelorMittal, Tata Steel, Jindal Steel & Power Limited...

-The Business Standard When the anti-Posco brigade celebrated the seventh anniversary of their agitation against the mega steel venture of the South Korean behemoth at Dhinkia near Paradip in Odisha last week, the noise they made against the project was drowned by the murmurs of a split in their ranks. After fighting against the project for the last seven years, Posco Pratirodh Sangram Samiti (PPSS) seems to be disintegrating, with many of...

-The Indian Express Tribal affairs minister’s letter to states on the Forest Rights Act highlights the problems of implementation For most observers, the Forest Rights Act (FRA) is just another “welfare” law. It is often trotted out as one of those “development measures” that ought to be implemented, but isn’t. Recently, Minister for Tribal Affairs V. Kishore Chandra Deo wrote to state governments, taking them to task for tardy implementation of the...

Perennial Jamni river will be linked to nearby lakes to assist in irrigation The Madhya Pradesh government claims to have launched the country's first ever river-lake linking project in the water-scarce Bundelkhand region. The Harpura irrigation and river-lake link project, launched in the Tikamgarh district, will be implemented under the Centre's Rs.7266 crore Bundelkhand package. It will link the perennial Jamni river to the nearby lakes and water bodies built during the...