Orissa sends back 16 Bangladeshis

October 12th, 2009 LONDON - The British government Monday criticised the global mining group Vedanta Resources, owned by Indian-born billionaire Anil Agarwal, for failing to consult tribal populations in Orissa before launching operations to mine bauxite. The government upheld complaints made by the NGO Survival International that Vedanta's operations in the sacred Nyamgiri Hills of Orissa breached guidelines drawn up by the Organisation of Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) - a grouping of the world's most industrialized nations.

October 10th, 2009 BHUBANESWAR - Journalists in Orissa are set to stage a protest outside the Raj Bhavan Monday against the arrest of a scribe last month on charges of sedition and assisting Maoists. "The mediapersons will wear black badges and stage a demonstration in front of the Raj Bhavan here," Prasant Patnaik, a member of a delegation that met Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik Friday night to register their protest, told IANS Saturday.

October 8th, 2009 BHUBANESWAR - National Commission for Scheduled Castes chairman Buta Singh Thursday criticised the Orissa government for not being "serious" enough in addressing the problems faced by the Scheduled Castes (SCs) and failing to stop the "growing atrocities" against them. "The atrocities against the SCs are growing.

September 30th, 2009 KUWAIT CITY - Kuwait will deport 17,000 foreigners, including Indians and Pakistanis, illegally staying in the country, the Online news agency reported Wednesday. Over 1,000 Pakistanis, 3,500 Indians and 4,000 Bangladeshis are staying illegally in the country, according to the interior ministry.

September 23rd, 2009 NEW DELHI - Lakhbir Kaur was just 16 years old when her father and other male members of the family were killed during the 1984 anti-Sikh riots. Now a mother of three, she laments why there was no mechanism for help or to seek justice and rehabilitation.

September 22nd, 2009 BHUBANESWAR - A fast-track court in Orissa Tuesday sentenced six people to three-year rigorous imprisonment for their role in the communal violence in Kandhamal last year, but acquitted five other accused. "Six persons have been awarded rigorous punishment and Rs.4,000 fine," said public prosecutor P.K.

September 14th, 2009 BHUBANESWAR - The former Orissa police chief Monday deposed before a commission that though the state police was aware that Swami Laxmananda Saraswati, who was killed last year, was under threat from some quarter, they did not know the threat was from Maoist rebels. Deposing before the Justice S.C.

September 14th, 2009 BHUBANESWAR - The Jagannath temple in Puri, one of the most revered Hindu shrines, has decided to open its doors to wheelchair-bound devotees, an official said. But the temple authorities have taken no decision on building ramps for the wheelchairs.

September 13th, 2009 BHUBANESWAR - The managing trustee of an orphanage, accused of raping a resident, was sent to jail in Orissa after a local court rejected his bail plea Sunday, police said. Byomakesh Tripathy was arrested Saturday from Chandrasekharpur area of state capital Bhubaneswar after one of the residents of Basanti Trust alleged that he was regularly exploiting her sexually.

September 11th, 2009 BHUBANESWAR - Anti-Posco leader Abhay Sahu, who was released from jail last month, Friday threatened to intensify the stir against the South Korean steel major unless it relocates its proposed steel plant. Sahu told a public rally near Paradeep: "We warn the state government and Posco to leave their confrontational attitude and relocate to another location.

September 10th, 2009 NEW DELHI - The government Thursday extended the relief package for the victims of the 1984 anti-Sikh riots to Tamil Nadu and West Bengal and the union territory of Chandigarh. These states had been left out of the relief package of Rs.714.76 crore announced in January 2006, an official explained of the decision taken at a cabinet meeting presided over by Prime Minister Manmohan Singh.

September 9th, 2009 BHUBANESWAR - A former Orissa legislator Wednesday filed a petition in the Orissa High Court for contempt proceedings against several officials for allegedly pushing a mega irrigation project in Andhra Pradesh in violation of the court's order. Communist Party of India (Marxist) leader Laxaman Munda has sought contempt proceedings against the secretary of the environment and forests ministry, the Central Water Commission chairman, and the principal secretary, the chief secretary and four other officials of Andhra Pradesh, his lawyer Bibhu Prasad Tripathy told IANS here.

September 8th, 2009 BHUBANESWAR - The arrest of at least 30 villagers last month in Orissa's Sundergarh district for their alleged links with Maoists has drawn flak from human rights activists and family members who staged a protest Tuesday, police said. Hundreds of people staged protests, blocked a road near Chandiposh village located some 60 km from the steel city of Rourkela and about 575 km from the state capital Bhubaneswar, a police officer said.

September 7th, 2009 GUWAHATI - Nearly 25 years after the historic Assam accord was signed, just under 3,000 illegal Bangladeshi migrants have been expelled, a figure that exposes the myth about the effectiveness of new legislation for detecting and deporting infiltrators. The tardy pace of detection and deportation was earlier blamed on the controversial Illegal Migrants (Determination by Tribunals) Act (IMDT).

September 4th, 2009 Accused Miley stalker's case sent to felony courtSAVANNAH, Ga. — A Georgia judge has transferred the misdemeanor case of a 53-year-old man accused of trying to stalk Miley Cyrus to a court that handles felony cases, indicating prosecutors are looking at stiffer charges.