Rural Litigation and Entitlement Kendra chairperson Avdhash Kaushal lashed out at the government on Wednesday for flawed policies that had retarded the development process in Uttarakhand in the name of environment conservation and made life miserable for both humans and wildlife. “There is an urgent need to change the Forest Conservation Act and Wild Life Protection Act which are colonial in nature and are also creating problems for people of Uttarakhand,”...

‘Akshardham, CWG Village on Yamuna bank shouldn't have got nod' Neither the Commonwealth Games Village nor the Akshardham Temple should have been allowed to be built on the banks of the Yamuna, according to Environment Minister Jairam Ramesh. He proposes to issue a River Regulation Zone notification to protect Riverbeds from such harmful constructions in the future. “The manner in which the Yamuna Riverbed has been devastated by constructions should be a...

Tamil Nadu: The north-east monsoon, 50 per cent in excess in the State, claims over 200 lives and destroys crops and infrastructure.A SERIES of weather systems, including a cyclone that missed Chennai narrowly, saw the skies open up over Tamil Nadu between November 4 and December 5, the period when the north-east monsoon is most active. Most of the 561 mm of rainfall that the State received between October 1...

The CAG indicts Uttarakhand for pursuing hydel power projects indiscriminately without concern for the environment. IN a severe indictment of the Uttarakhand government, the Comptroller and Auditor General (CAG) of India said it was pushing the State towards a major environmental catastrophe by following a highly ambitious hydropower policy. In a report titled “Performance Audit of Hydropower Development Through Private Sector Participation”, which was released recently, the CAG substantiates the allegations...

Mangalore air crash highlights two petitions highlighting safety violations in the Mangalore tabletop airport, dismissed by the Karnataka High Court in ’92 and by the Supreme Court in ’02 Apex court dismisses petition against mining in Niyamgiri hills in 2008; now a global focus point The same year, the apex court dismisses PIL against the building of the Commonwealth Games village on the Yamuna Riverbed. Why has the UPA government, which loses no...