The battle against Posco appeared to be reaching a crucial stage as around 2,000 protectors today continued to block the entry of police and officials into Dhinkia and Gobindapur even as an Opposition delegation visited the area to lend support to the people’s movement. As the protesters refused to budge, the officials were forced to reTurn empty-handed after a five-hour-long wait. The movement against the 12-million-tonne Posco steel project got a big...

-PTI   Asking the Orissa government to refrain from "forcible" land acquisition for the POSCO project near Paradip, Congress today committed its support to the people unwilling to give their land for the South Korean steel maker. Congress sent a four-member team headed by party's chief spokesman Prof Kailash Acharya to Dhinkia area where about 600 policemen were deployed to acquire land for POSCO project. "Though chief minister Naveen Patnaik had announced that...

The Government proposal to make cash transfer in place of food grain to poor families has drawn mixed reactions. Raghuvir Nagar on the western outskirts of Delhi has of late Turned into a Turf for a war between two schools of thought. The war has not been limited to campaigns and debates and purportedly escalated to the level of allegations, even intimidation, so much so that the Government of the national...

In reply to a question about his views of “western civilisation”, Gandhi is said to have remarked: “It is a good idea!” The resurgence of “civil society” in the past two decades has led to similar ironic comments: “Are the rest then uncivil?” and the like. But there is a serious question that needs articulation and addressal to make the current debate meaningful. Just what is civil society, and how...

As the Lokpal Bill gets mired in a tortuous birthing, the debate shifts to who exactly has the right to pass a law Why Politicians Hate Civil Society     * Unelected activists stealing Parliament’s right to make laws, undercutting role of parliamentarians     * Demands like an all-powerful Lokpal directly impact political-bureaucratic class and the status quo     * Rigid deadlines, fasts unto death to press home issues are akin to holding government...