Activist Medha Patkar addressing a rally in New Delhi on Monday against the land acquisition policy of the UPA government. “Sangharsh,” a collective platform of social movements and people's organisations fighting displacement and forcible land acquisition, began a five-day dharna at Jantar Mantar here on Monday. Representatives of people's movements from Assam to Tamil Nadu participated in the “Sansad Gherao” dharna. Among the struggles highlighted was the Assam-based Krishak Mukti Sangram Samiti's...

The Supreme Court on Monday issued notice to the Union Ministry of Environment & Forest (MoEF) to file its reply on whether the proposed cement plant by Nirma Limited in Mahuva taluka of Bhavnagar district would pollute or adversely affect the water body on the site. A three-judge SC bench comprising Chief Justice S H Kapadiya, Justice Swatanter Kumar and Justice K S Radhakrishnan issued the notice while hearing a Special...

Sonia Gandhi visited a farmer widow's house in August 2004, soon after the UPA came to power. However, this visit did not bring as much change in her life as Rahul Gandhi's visit on July 18, 2008, to Kalawati's house. In fact, the Damaged canal that led to the suicide by Ranjana Deshmukh's husband has still not been repaired. The struggles of Kalawati of Yavatmal and Ranjana Deshmukh of Wardha, both...

The World Bank-funded Rs.745-crore Dam Rehabilitation and Improvement Project (DRIP), covering 104 Dams in the State, will be launched in the next financial year (2011-2012). Of the total number of Dams, 66 belong to the Water Resources Department (WRD) of the Public Works Department (PWD) and 38 to the Tamil Nadu Generation and Distribution Corporation (TANGEDCO), successor-entity of the Tamil Nadu Electricity Board. In the first year, 18 Dams — WRD's...

Crime branch officials today brought Sailesh Pandya, accused of killing RTI activist Amit Jethwa, to the city from Mumbai. The 36-year-old shooter, who had allegedly shot dead Jethwa in Admedabad in July, was arrested in Mumbai on Tuesday last for possessing illegal firearms. Jethwa was killed a few days after he filed a public interest litigation (PIL) against illegal mining in the protected Gir sanctuary in Junagadh district. So far, police have arrested...