-PTI   The Communist Party of India (CPI) national secretary, D Raja, today demanded that the Odisha government should shift Posco steel plant from its current location."Even hough the locals, and particularly tribals, have been agitating against the plant since last six years, the Odisha government never listened to them," Raja said, adding that the state government was mercilessly using the police to suppress the people's movement."I urge the government to...

Any Indian denied food security rights will be able to seek quick legal redress if the government accepts a suggestion from the Sonia Gandhi-headed National Advisory Council. The council wants the National Food Commission, a watchdog against any violation of the National Food Security Bill, to be given all the powers of a civil court. Its verdicts are to be binding on the government. Such a measure will help provide quicker and...

-The Hindu   With an RTI application revealing that former Union Sports Minister Mani Shankar Aiyar had written to the Prime Minister's Office as early as September 2007 warning of impending disaster in the conduct of the Commonwealth Games, NGO Hazards Centre has criticised the Union Government for not acting upon it and conducting an inquiry. Mr. Aiyar wrote the letter after studying a report prepared by the Hazards Centre on expenditure,...

-PTI   The Congress today launched a campaign to counter the anti-graft movement by Anna Hazare and Baba Ramdev and accused a section of civil society of trying to weaken democratic institutions. "The Constitution has given the power to legislate only to Parliament and the state Assemblies. If 5,000 or 6,000 people dictate from outside what the Parliament ought to do, this will weaken democracy," Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee told a press...

-The Telegraph   The Raj Bhavan secretariat had expressed “procedural doubts” about the now-discarded Singur ordinance on Thursday and the governor had signed it only after an assurance from minister Partha Chatterjee that the law department had not come across any potential red flags, Writers’ Buildings sources said today. The government had to drop the ordinance yesterday because it is unconstitutional to promulgate one while the Assembly is in session. It decided...