Karan Thapar: Hello and welcome to Devil's Advocate in a special interview with the new Environment Minister. How does she see her job and how will she face up to the challenges she has to contend with? This is the key issue I shall explore today with Jayanthi Natrajan. Mrs Natrajan, congratulations on becoming the Environment Minister. It took the media by surprise, was it a surprise for you as...
04:47 PM, Jul 17, 2011
Karan Thapar: Hello and welcome to Devil's Advocate in a special interview with the new Environment Minister. How does she see her job and how will she face up to the challenges she has to contend with? This is the key issue I shall explore today with Jayanthi Natrajan. Mrs Natrajan, congratulations on becoming the Environment Minister. It took the media by surprise, was it a surprise for you as...
04:47 PM, Jul 17, 2011
New Delhi: Jayanthi Natarajan, the new Environment Minister has assured that she strive to end the uncertainty surrounding environment clearances for major projects like POSCO and Vedanta. She said that she will ensure that her ministry takes speedy decisions when it comes to green clearances. Natrajan in conversation with Karan Thapar on Devil's Advocate. Karan Thapar: Often environment ministry is blamed unnecessarily but equally important, it is blamed rightly, when...
08:48 AM, Jul 17, 2011
Paradip: Work at the proposed Posco steel project site in Orissa's Jagatsinghpur district could not be taken up on Saturday due to protest by locals who chased the police leading to a brief scuffle between them. Though opponents of Posco claimed that five women were injured, one of them seriously, at Mathasahi under Nuagaon panchayat after being beaten up by the police, the district administration dismissed the allegation. "No police...
12:58 PM, Jul 16, 2011
Paradip: Work at the proposed site for Posco's controversial Rs 52,000 crore steel project in Orissa's Jagatsinghpur district resumed on Tuesday after remaining stalled since June 26. "Work in Gadakujanga and Nuagaon areas is going on today," Jagatsinghpur district collector N C Jena said. Felling of trees and clearing of forest area and acquired betel-vine farms were continuing in Gadakujanga and Nuagaon areas, official sources said, adding steps were also...
03:18 PM, Jul 05, 2011
Bhubaneswar: Over 100 activists from five political parties courted arrest on Saturday while staging a 'civil disobedience' here demanding withdrawal of police from the proposed Posco steel plant site. Activists of CPI, CPI-M, Forward Bloc, RJD and Samajwadi Party participated in the 'civil disobedience' near the Secretariat here, demanding withdrawal of police from the proposed Posco steel plant site. The activists were arrested for attempting to break prohibitory orders, said...
11:10 PM, Jul 02, 2011
Bhubaneswar: Demanding immediate withdrawal of police force from Posco's proposed plant site near Paradip, five political parties on Thursday launched a day-night dharna here even as project-related works were stopped for the fifth consecutive day due to Opposition from locals. Leaders and activists of CPI, CPI-M, Forward Bloc, RJD and Samajwadi Party held a demonstration before sitting on a dharna on Mahatma Gandhi Marg near the state secretariat. Accusing the...
07:26 PM, Jun 30, 2011
Bhubaneswar: Work remained stalled at Posco's proposed plant site near Paradip for the fourth consecutive day on Wednesday, prompting Jagatsinghpur district administration to invite villagers disrupting project related activities for talks to end the deadlock. "We have invited members of United Action Commitee (UAC), who are opposing work for boundary wall and rehabilitation colony in Nuagaon and Gadakujang areas, for talks," Jagatsinghpur Collector, N C Jena told PTI. Stating that...
07:23 PM, Jun 29, 2011
Paradip, Orissa Work at the proposed Posco site in Jagatsinghpur district was stalled for the third consecutive day on Tuesday as locals staged a road blockade at a key junction demanding that their demands be fulfilled including enhanced compensation to land losers. "People have blocked the road near Balisahi making it difficult for teams to proceed for boundary wall and rehabilitation colony construction. We are are looking into the matter",...
11:15 AM, Jun 28, 2011
Bhubaneswar: Orissa government on Monday declared "use of kids" in anti-Posco agitation as "illegal" after redeploying force close to the dharna site at Gobindpur village, the entry point to Dhinkia area. Armed police force which had been withdrawn from near the dharna site last week, was again deployed as the state government decided to resume the land acquisition work for the Rs 52,000 crore project soon, they said. "We have...
04:49 PM, Jun 27, 2011
Paradip: Agitators stalled work for the second day on Monday at Posco's mega steel plant project near Paradip in Orissa's Jagatsinghpur district as prohibitory orders were clamped. Slogan-shouting youths, women and children marched to Noliasahi-Polang area in the Nuagaon panchayat where the boundary wall and rehabilitation colonies were being built and demanded that work be halted immediately, officials said. Land acquisition has been 'temporarily halted' since June 21, while work...
02:43 PM, Jun 27, 2011
Bhubaneswar: Rejecting allegations of forcible land acquisition and violation of Forest Rights Acts at Posco's proposed plant site villages in Orissa, the state government on Thursday claimed that it was making progress at the ground level. "There is no violation of any law for the Posco project," Chief Secretary B K Patnaik told reporters in the face of allegations made by political parties and social activists. Stating that the ground...
07:57 PM, Jun 23, 2011
Jagatsinghpur: Pictures of children protesting at the Posco site in Orissa shocked the nation and forced the Jagatsinghpur district administration to halt land acquisition and withdraw the police forces. But clearly it was just a temporary halt. Government sources now say once the issue is out of the media's spotlight, and political leaders and social activists stop visiting, the district administration will restart land acquisition. The administration has in fact...
08:58 AM, Jun 23, 2011
On Face The Nation, Sagarika Ghose asks a panel of experts whether land is the biggest obstacle to big projects in India. ...
11:52 PM, Jun 22, 2011
Tonight at 10, Sagarika Ghose asks a panel of experts that after Posco and Singur, is land the biggest obstacle to big projects in India?
11:19 AM, Jun 22, 2011
Mumbai: Exactly six years after Korean steel giant Posco signed an MoU with the Orissa government for its Rs 52,000-crore 12-MTPA project, the mega venture remains mired in uncertainty. As the anti-steel plant agitation gains momentum, both Posco and Orissa government have vowed to push ahead with the project in Jagathsinghpur district. The country's biggest single FDI project till date has been beset by stiff protests from local communities against...
12:14 PM, Jun 21, 2011
Bhubaneswar: It is 'force versus children' in the battle for land to set up Posco's proposed mega steel project in Orissa's Jagatsinghpur district where the anti-displacement stir has entered the decisive phase. While a determined state government have accused the Posco Pratirodh Sangram Samiti (PPSS), a body spearheading agitation against the South Korean steel major, of using the children as a 'shield', the villagers sought to differ. "We involve children...
10:46 AM, Jun 19, 2011
Bhubaneswar: The Orissa government will not be able to resume the process of acquiring land for Posco's mega steel plant in Jagatsinghpur on Saturday due to bad weather. Paradeep ADM Saroj Kant Choudhary said, "The process of retrieving land has been postponed due to bad weather as it is raining very heavily here." Police personnel have been withdrawn from the site. Social activist Swami Agnivesh reached Jagatsinghpur and is reportedly...
10:27 AM, Jun 18, 2011
Bhubaneswar: Expressing solidarity with protestors, the Orissa Pradesh Congress Committee on Friday demanded relocation of the Posco steel plant project from fertile land at Dhinkia to barren land available a little distance away. "There is no problem in shifting the proposed plant from the present site. There are 6,000 acres of barren land on the other side of the river near Dhinkia," PCC president Niranjan Patnaik told reporters in Bhubaneswar....
11:36 PM, Jun 17, 2011
Bhubaneswar: Rubbishing allegations of forcible land acquisition for Posco project near Paradip, Orissa Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik on Monday said force was not used for the purpose as his government believed in "peaceful industrialisation". "I have often said that we believe in peaceful industrialisation," Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik told reporters adding the state government was constantly monitoring developments at the proposed plant site villages. The state government would take appropriate...
05:21 PM, Jun 13, 2011
