-Newsclick.in CM Mamata Banerjee has started handing over compensation packages, but SKM and other outfits have accused it of bypassing holding of gram sabhas. Kolkata: The Deocha-Pachami-Dewanganj-Harisingha (DPDH) coal block under Mohammed Bazar Development Block in Birbhum district is fast becoming a “symbol of the West Bengal government’s high-handedness”. So much so that local residents, a large number of whom are adivasis/santhals, are being cautious in airing their concerns about the proposed...

-The Hindu Rights, environmental activists have raised questions on the proposed plan that is likely to displace 5,000 families Prasenjit Bose, an economist and activist based in Kolkata, and eight others were arrested earlier this week from the Deocha Pachami coal project area in the Md. Bazar block in West Bengal’s Birbhum district. The nine persons— four from Kolkata and five locals from Md. Bazar — have been booked for unlawful assembly...