2005 22 June: Orissa signs a MoU with Posco. Its integrated plant needs 4004 acre land in Jagatsinghpur district. Of this, 3566 acres is government land (out of which 3004 classified as forest land) and 438 acres is private land. July-August: Anti-Posco community forces start organizing September: PPSS is formed 2006 14 September: Environment clearance application for port submitted 18 December: Forest Rights Act passed in Parliament 2007 27 April: Environment clearance application for power-cum-steel plant submitted 15 May: Port gets environment clearance 16 May: Environment minister A Raja becomes Telecom minister. MoEF moves under the PMO. 26 June: Clearance for forest land diversion (for plant) sought 19 July: Plant gets environment clearance 9 August: Forest Advisory Committee gives in-principle nod to land diversion 14 November: Central Empowered Committee submits report 29 November: Police attack PPSS protest, injure more than 50 2008 1 January: Forest Rights Act notified 23 March: Soon after the FRA was notified, villagers in Dhinkia pass resolutions electing a Forest Rights Committee and asserting the gram sabha's decision to protect the area from environmental destruction in exercise of its powers under section 5 of the FRA. The State government ignores the gram sabha and takes no steps to implement FRA in the area. 8 August: Based on the recommendations of its CEC and the FAC, Supreme Court offers "in principle" clearance for diversion of "forest land", adding that the MoEF should ensure compliance to all relevant laws. 28 September: MoEF grants Phase I clearance for diversion of forest land  2009 28 May:Jairam Ramesh takes over as environment minister after the UPA is wins the second term 3 August: Jairam Ramesh orders that no application for land diversion for the Posco plant can be made without the consent of gram sabhas of the affected area. 24 October: Chief Secretary of Orissa asked district collectors to furnish necessary documents required for compliance with the MoEF circular. 19 December: Jagatsinghpur District Collector directed the Block Development Officer of Esarama to get the approval of the gram sabhas of the area for the proposed diversion of land. 29 December: Not clear what got to Jairam Ramesh but he suddenly granted the "final clearance" for land diversion without waiting for the gram sabhas' consent and, therefore, in violation of his own order issued barely five months back. 2010 5 January: PPSS writes to MoEF. CPI and other outfits protest across the nation 8 January: Ramesh issues a clarification, stating that the "final clearance" was "conditional" - a curious contradiction in terms -- on settlement of rights under the FRA. 19 January: BDO of Erasamafinally writes to the three affected gram panchayats to hold meeting and decide on the issue by February 10, 2010. 4-6 February: Nuagaon, Dhinkia and Govindpur gramsabhas passed resolutions reasserting people's rights and powers under the Forest Rights Act and rejected the proposed diversion on February 4, 5 and 6, respectively. 16 March: A reckless state government summarily bypasses these resolutions and writes to the MOEF that there are no tribals or traditional forest dwellers in the area. In support of the claim, the state attached three reports of gram sabha meetings that were apparently passed on March 23, 2008 (see above). 16 April: Ministry of Tribal Affairs and MoEF jointly set up a panel under Dr NC Saxena to study the implementation of FRA. 24 July: A 3-member sub-committee of the Saxena panel visit Posco-affected areas July 26: Ramesh assures RajyaSabha that "no forest land shall be handed over to the User Agency before settlement of rights under the [Forest Rights] Act." 28 July: State government starts land acquisition 29 July: MoEF sets up a four-member committee under Meena Gupta, on recommendation of the FAC, to study the Posco affected area. 4 August: The subpanel of DR Saxena committee submits report to MoEF, nailing the state government's lies. The report categorically stated that there was non-compliance of the required processes under FRA in the POSCO affected area. 6 August: MoEF promptly issued a notice, halting land acquisition. 18 October: The three member majority in the Meena Gupta panel accepted the presence of both tribal and non-tribal forest dwellers in the project area, pointed out that the forest clearance was illegal, that the FRA was not implemented, and the state government furnished false statements. Committee chairperson Meena Gupta dissented to support the land clearance but even she agreed that FRA was not implemented properly. 25 Oct-19 Nov: The FAC sits on the Gupta panel report before finally arriving at a decision, recommending temporary withdrawal of the forest clearance on grounds of violation of the FRA. 2011 31 January: After sitting on the file for more than two months, Ramesh put aside the findings and recommendations of his own inquiry panel, the Saxena Committee, and FAC and offered yet another 'conditional' final clearance. The project was on if Orissa government could give an "assurance" that there are no eligible persons in the area. 10 February: Dhinkia and Gobindapur Forest Rights Committees filed complaint with MoEF that the FRA was not fully implemented in the area and attach the February 2010 resolutions of the pallisabhas. 21-23 February: To drive home the point, pallisabhas at Dhinkia and Govindpur passed fresh resolutions, rejecting consent for diversion of forest land. 10 March: PPSS sends copies of the fresh resolution to the MoEF. 11 April: PPSS reiterates pallisabhas' claims. 13 April: The state government sends the "assurance" as requested by MoEF, repeating all claims earlier proved to be false by the Meena Gupta Enquiry Committee. 14 April: MoEF asks the state to respond to resolutions submitted by PPSS. 29 April: After two weeks, the state government's reply to MoEFclaimesd that the sarpanch had "overstepped the jurisdiction vested in him and misutilised his official position". Besides terming the pallisabhas illegal, the letter also called the resolutions fake. 2 May: Reacting to press reports, PPSS counters the state government's "absurd claims". Hours later, Ramesh issues a statement: "In view of the state government's latest communication of April 29, final approval is accorded to the state government for diversion of 1253 hectares of forest land in favour of Posco." The Shame