Adding fuel to fire, people haven’t received subsidy

Mahipal Singh Yadav (31) is a contractual junior manager at the Kotkasim Gram Sewa Sahakari Samiti. Joining the cooperative, he had hoped, would be like any other job. However, since the direct cash transfer of kerosene subsidies scheme was piloted here, Mr. Yadav has found himself at the receiving end of people’s anger. The KGSSS operates five fair price shops (FPS) in the Kotkasim block. As the scheme came into effect, kerosene prices were hiked to Rs. 45 and then to Rs. 50 a litre from Rs. 15.

Accusing the ruling BJP government of resorting to British-style repression, the Madhya Pradesh Congress has asked Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan to immediately stop “forcible land acquisition” for a power project in Katni, about 300 km from here.

The protests against the project have claimed the life of woman farmer Sunia Bai who immolated herself on Tuesday after she received a government notice asking her to vacate 4.5 acres of land she owned.

M.P. government agrees to demands of Omkareshwar Dam oustees

Oustees of the Omkareshwar Dam project called off their jal satyagraha on Monday after the Madhya Pradesh government accepted all their demands and constituted a ministerial committee to look into their grievances. On the 17th day of the protest, Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chauhan announced that the government had agreed to the key demands of the agitators — reducing the water level of the dam to 189 metres and providing land for land compensation to all those who had lost their land.

Environmental objections were overruled by Empowered Group of Ministers, in the face of expert concerns

The Madhya Pradesh government has said the filling of the Omkareshwar dam poses no threat to human life even as the Madhya Pradesh Human Rights Commission (MPHRC) directed the government to ensure the safety of the protesters.

The government’s statement comes in the wake of the ongoing jal satyagraha protest of the project affected people of the Omkareshwar dam in the East Nimaar region (Khandwa district), where oustees have been standing in the rising dam water for the last seven days.

As many as 250 people affected by the Omkareshwar dam project have been standing in waist-deep water since Saturday night, even as the water level continues to rise.

The oustees announced their jal satyagraha protest last month at Ghogalgaon village in the East Nimar region against the Madhya Pradesh government’s decision to raise the water level in the dam from 189 to 193 metres. The 520-MW Omkareshwar project is one of the several big dams on the Narmada. The current water level is 189 metres and the protesters fear that if filled beyond that level, the dam would submerge their lands spread across several villages.

Maharashtra recorded the maximum number of deaths due to serious adverse events (SAEs) during drug trials, while Madhya Pradesh saw the least number of such deaths.

According to data disclosed by the Drug Controller-General of India, during the 49-month period (January 2008-January 2012), the country recorded 2,061 drug trial-related deaths. But data has been given only for 1,603 of the 2,061 deaths.

Abandoned Carbide factory continues to leach toxic chemicals into groundwater

Even as the world prepares to witness the London Olympics starting Friday, victims and survivors of the Bhopal gas tragedy have decided to pre-empt the organisers by holding a “Bhopal Special Olympics” here on Thursday. Five survivor organisations, led by the Bhopal Group for Information and Action (BGIA), will jointly organise the event on Thursday to oppose sponsorship of the Olympic Games by Dow Chemical — the current owner of Union Carbide Corporation — which “continues to evade civil, criminal and environmental liabilities of Bhopal inherited from Union Carbide.”

People affected by the Omkareshwar dam project sat on an indefinite ‘ jal satyagr aha ’ against the Madhya Pradesh government’s decision of filling up the dam up to a height of 193 meters.

The protesters, gathered under the banner of the Narmada Bachao Andolan in Ghogalgaon village of Khandwa district, set up a camp just above 189 meters, the current water level of the dam, and commenced the satyagrah a , resolving to not budge until the government fulfilled their rightful demands of relief and rehabilitation, including land-based compensation.

Victims and survivors of the Bhopal gas tragedy staged a “die-in” protest here on Wednesday to “remind the organisers” of the Olympic Games in London that they have exactly one month to drop Dow Chemical as a sponsor of the event.

Dow Chemical, through its takeover of Union Carbide, has inherited its civil, criminal and environmental liabilities in [the] Bhopal gas leak [case], but the corporation refuses to accept them. The people in Bhopal are still dying, over a hundred thousand survivors are battling chronic illnesses, and children are still being born with horrific deformities because of Dow Chemical’s refusal to own up to Union Carbide’s liabilities in Bhopal,”