The state food department has drawn up elaborate plans to develop the infrastructure of the public distribution system (PDS) following Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee's visit to Khadya Bhavan last week. During the visit, the Chief Minister asked that a committee comprising trade union members be formed and that they come up with suggestions on how to improve the infrastructure of the PDS scheme and evict corruption from the system. A...

-The Times of India   Unperturbed over the stiff protest against the proposed Posco steel plant, the Orissa government on Tuesday said it would start project-related work in areas already acquired in Jagatsinghpur district. The government, however, suspended further land acquisition for the time being. "We have already acquired 1,800 acres of land for the proposed plant near Paradip and are beginning project-related work in the area already acquired," said chief...

-The Telegraph   The Meghalaya government today approved the rules for implementation of the ambitious Right of Children to Free and Compulsory Education Act, 2009, or the RTE Act, 2009. According to the “child-centric” and “child-friendly” act, free and compulsory education should be provided to children in the age group of 6-14 years in Classes I to VII; no child should be held back, expelled or required to pass a board examination...

Even as the Orissa government suspended land acquisition for the proposed mega steel plant of Posco in this seaside block in Jagatsinghpur district for an indefinite period on Tuesday, senior leaders of the Communist Party of India and Communist Party of India (Marxist) expressed their solidarity with the villagers opposing the venture. Veteran CPI MP Gurudas Dasgupta and senior CPI(M) MP Basudev Acharya demanded that the Naveen Patnaik government stop forceful...

A judicial inquiry has been ordered by the Nitish Kumar government into the police firing in Forbesganj on June 3 in which four Muslims were killed and several others injured. The Government would await its findings before taking action against anyone, said senior Janata Dal (United) leader Shivanand Tewari here on Tuesday. Talking to journalists, Mr. Tewari virtually justified the lack of any immediate compensation for the relatives of those killed,...