The minister for environment and forests, Jairam Ramesh’s order stopping Vedanta Aluminum Ltd and the Orissa Mining Corporation from mining bauxite in the Niyamgiri Hills to feed the company’s adjacent Lanjigarh aluminum refinery plant located in one of the country’s poorest districts in the name of tribal interest tends to miss the wood for the trees. It is based on the report of a four-member expert group under N C...

In the last few years in different parts of India the issue of land acquisition has become politically explosive.  This isn’t surprising as land, one of the few assets possessed by large numbers of people, particularly in rural India, is rising disproportionately in potential value as commercial and industrial development picks up, as there is never a dearth of real estate magnates, land speculators, local mafia, their political patrons and...

At least 14 people died in the last 24 hours in the 12 flood-hit districts of western UP, taking the toll in rain-related incidents in the state to 270. Nearly 5 lakh people across 1,032 villages have been affected, 47 villages have been marooned. On Wednesday, the Army was called out in Shahjahanpur district. Relief Commissioner KK Sinha said: "Ramganga and Garrah are in spate in Shahjahanpur and the Army has been...

A vast swath of land in north India battled swirling flood water as the toll in heavy rains in the region rose to 93 with reports of more deaths from Uttar Pradesh and Uttarakhand. Uttar Pradesh accounted for nine more deaths, while 67 persons lost their lives in the incessant rains during the past few days. Thousands others have been rendered homeless in the hill state. In Uttar Pradesh, three persons died...

40 farmers of Simaldih village, located around three kilometres from Dhanbad railway station are facing drought for 10 years as 25 acres of their fertile land has turned barren. The villagers alleged that a large drain connected to the Central Hospital of Bharat coking coal Limited (BCCL) has turned their land infertile. The villagers said that the chemical waste from the drain directly fall on their land. A few years ago...