-PTI Sustainable development is an integral part of fundamental rights conferred on citizens by the Constitution and cannot be allowed to be hampered by environmental degradation, the Supreme Court has said. "Inter-generational equity and sustainable development have come to be firmly embedded in our constitutional jurisprudence as an integral part of the fundamental rights conferred by Article 21(Right to Life) of the Constitution. In enforcing such rights of a large number...

-The Indian Express The Supreme Court on Thursday ruled that the Vedanta Group's bauxite Mining project in the Niyamgiri Hills of Orissa will have to get the gram sabha's clearance on whether it affects the cultural and religious rights of the tribals and forest dwellers living in Rayagada and Kalahandi districts. While the gram sabha's nod is compulsory under the Forest Rights Act, the court made it clear that the Act confers...

-Live Mint Vedanta can mine bauxite in Orissa with gram sabha nod, some Karnataka iron ore mines to reopen Two key judgements passed by the Supreme Court on Thursday bode well for India's troubled natural resources sector, keeping alive Vedanta Resources Plc's hopes of Mining bauxite in Orissa and promising an alleviation of raw material shortages at steel makers by partly lifting a ban on iron ore Mining in Karnataka. The country's top...

-The Times of India The Supreme Court on Thursday lifted the omnibus ban on iron ore mines in Bellary, Chitradurga and Tumkur districts of Karnataka and permitted 81 lease owners, who had committed minor violations, to resume Mining after compliance of stringent conditions laid down by the courts. Moving forward from its reference to illegal Mining activity for decades under active political patronage as "a shocking state of depredation of nature's bounty...

-The Hindu Identifying 37 per cent - or about 60,000 square km - of the Western Ghats as ecologically sensitive, a high-level panel has recommended that "destructive" activities such as Mining, thermal power, major construction, and some hydel power projects should not be allowed there. However, the panel was silent about any restrictions in the remaining 96,000 square km area, thus creating the perception that it had diluted earlier recommendations that the...