BY PARWEZ HAFEEZ and DIBYAJYOTI CHAUDHURI

Kolkata,July 31: A day after Tata Motors' managing director Ravikant expressed serious concerns over the continuing disturbances around Nano's plant at Singur and warned that their patience was running out, the state government invited Trinamul Congress chief Mamata Banerjee for talks. She contemptuously rejected the invitation.

It is the Trinamul Congress-led Save Farmland Committee which has threatened that it would not allow the Tatas to roll out Nano in October as planned.

This UNDP study focuses on the situation of land rights and ownership in Orissa. Provides concrete suggestions to improve access of the poor to land and highlights the need to arrest processes that are promoting land alienation.

DH News Service, Mangalore:

"Projects like MSEZ and PCPIR are blatant attack on the district and hence protests must be triggered against these projects to see to it that they do not come into existence here,"said High Court retired judge Justice M F Saldanha.

State of strife Enlarge view Is India building its developmental house from the roof down, with a non-existent foundation? Arun Kumar, professor of economics at the Jawaharlal Nehru University in Delhi, thinks so.

The great Indian State no more sits on the fence, has crossed over to the industry"s side on the sidelines of G-8 summit in Hokkaido, Japan, the Indian Prime Minister committed to his South Korean counterpart he would try his best to help posco begin constructing its steel plant, at Jagatsinghpur in Orissa, by August this year. Is the pm aware of widespread opposition from the affected

Or, how to bend over to please industry POSCO needs 300 million tonnes of coal for 30-35 years of operation. So, on July 26, 2006, the state government recommended to the Centre that the company be allotted coal blocks in Chhendipada-I, Baitarani West, and Chhendipada-II for captive mining. The latter two have already been allotted to other companies. If, however, the company obtains

Jual Oram shoots off a stinker Jual Oram, (then) state president of the BJP, in coalition with Orissa chief minister Naveen Patnaik

Special economic zones and sit-ins. Mega-projects and marches. Public-private partnerships and pitched battles. Precociously, because they are desperate, state governments are willing to hand land, forest, water over to industry.

Raucously, because they are really desperate, people all over India have begun to use all available means to contest the usually coercive intrusion of the State into their lives, and livelihoods.

Consider, as symptom, the Orissa government

21 February, 2006: Anti-POSCO groups demonstrate against the visit of the then Panchayati Raj Minister, Dr Damodar Rout 8 December, 2006: Anti-POSCO convention held at Balitutha February, 2007: Polling for panchayat elections could not be held on some booths in Dhinkia following protests 13 October, 2007: Four POSCO-India executives taken hostage and beaten up 29 November, 2007:

Makarand Gadgil / Vasuli Shinde (pune) July 30, 2008, 0:51 IST

Battle lines are drawn here in village Vasuli Shinde on the banks of river Sudha, near Chakan

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