India has rejected controversial plans by mining group Vedanta to extract bauxite in the eastern state of Orissa. The project had breached environmental protection acts and raised concerns for the rights of local tribes, Environment Minister Jairam Ramesh said. Vedanta's other ventures in Orissa were being investigated separately, he said. The company has yet to comment on the decision. It says it will bring jobs to the area - tribespeople say the plans...

‘Ek Cup Chya’, India’s first and only movie on the Right to Information Act, was screened by PCGT, an NGO working with RTI on Friday at the Indian Merchant Chambers. The Film, which is in Marathi with English sub-titles, was made in 2009 by national award-winning directors Sumithra Bhave and Sunil Sukhtankar and produced by Dr Yashwant Oak. It features well-known Marathi actors like Kishore Kadam, Sunil Sukhthankar, Devika Daftardar, Ashwini Giri...

Two more tribal women have been stripped and forced to parade naked in front of large crowds in the Indian state of West Bengal, police say. The incidents were in the same area - the Birbhum district - where a similar case took place four months ago. Locals say that the women were being punished for "having close relations" with men from other communities. Birbhum police spokesman Humayun Kabir told the BBC that...

A group of farmers in Vidarbha region held protests against Aamir Khan's Peepli Live which according to them was an attempt to belittle the cause of farmers in the region that has witnessed a number of suicides in the past. On the occasion of Independence Day, farm widows and farmers took to the streets in Yavatmal, which was the epicentre of Vidarbha farmers suicides, about 160 km near Nagpur in...

The Women's Commission in the Indian state of West Bengal has announced an inquiry into allegations that a tribal woman was forced to parade naked. Officials say she was forced to walk without her clothes for nearly 10km (6 miles) through three villages and was Filmed on a mobile phone. They say that she was also molested and jeered by a large crowd. Locals say she was being "punished" because of an illicit...