The sight on television was heartbreaking: children lying in rows in the searing sun to be human shields against the takeover of their land for Korean giant POSCO’s mega bucks project. Facing them were armed police sent by the state government to assist in the operation. The steel plant and port project, located in a coastal district of Odisha, has been in a six-year-long eyeball-to-eyeball battle with people whose land will...
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Power centre or toothless body? by Akshat Kaushal
Why is the ruling party unable to pass 3 very important bills? The National Advisory Council draws its exalted status from the fact that UPA Chairperson Sonia Gandhi heads it. But its inability to get its way on three new Bills indicates that its influence is waning. A couple of weeks ago, the Sonia Gandhi-led National Advisory Council (NAC) cleared the drafts of two significant Bills — the Food Security Bill and...
More »Posco faces hurdles in Karnataka too
-The Business Standard The farmers in Halligudi of Mundargi taluk in Gadag district are firm on their stand to not part with their land to make way for the Posco steel plant. They have taken serious exception to industries minister Murugesh Nirani’s claim that farmers had volunteered to hand over land to KIADB in lieu of the compensation amount and employment, President of Mundaragi Taluk Abhivruddhi Horata Vedike Y R Goudar said no...
More »Farmers see scam in job scheme fund use
-The Times of India Farmers in Sivaganga district have alleged that funds to the tune of Rs 8 lakh was misappropriated under the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme (MNREGS) in Vengalur panchayat in Devakottai taluk. Villagers alleged that a panchayat clerk had siphoned off the money allotted for desilting a tank, a key source of water for agriculture in the locality. Based on a report on the alleged...
More »Missing demographic dividend? by Arup Mitra
The results of the NSS 66th round survey (2009-10) on Employment and unEmployment show a striking decline in the female labour force and the workforce participation rates as per all the three criteria (the usual, weekly and daily status) in rural and urban areas as compared to 2004-05. Even among urban males, there is a decline in the rates as per the usual and weekly status, though the daily status...
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