Civil society representatives from more than 70 countries wrapped up a United Nations forum today with an urgent call to action to improve the health of millions of men, women and children worldwide and step up efforts to achieve the globally agreed anti-poverty targets known as the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs). In a wide-ranging declaration adopted at the end of the three-day meeting in Melbourne, Australia, participants stressed that achieving...

The Punjab government has sought an amendment to the RTI Act for appointment of officiating chief information commissioner (CIC). The state has written to the Ministry of Personnel, Grievances and Pensions and the Ministry of Law and Justice, saying that amendment in the Act be carried out so that there is clarity regarding status, salary and allowances given to the officiating CIC. At present, an officiating CIC is appointed through a routine...

A week after the Ministry of Environment and Forests threw the Vedanta Aluminium project in Orissa into doldrums by denying final stage forest clearance, the fate of the 12 million tonne per annum steel project by Korean steelmaker Posco appears to be bleak after the ministry widened the ambit of the Meena Gupta panel looking into the steel project. In July this year, the MoEF had formed a four-member panel headed by...

N C Saxena, who led the committee which recommended against permitting mining of the Niyamgiri hills in Orissa, says the same approach should be adopted for Andhra Pradesh’s mammoth Polavaram hydro project, too. If there is violation of the Forest Rights Act (FRA) there, too, it should not be allowed, as that is the law of the land, Saxena told Business Standard. The Polavaram dam being constructed on the Godavari river by...

Vedanta has initiated efforts to get mining Rights in other areas of the state to run its 1-million-tonne plant at Lanjigarh but the Congress has vowed to block the handover of at least one of the alternative sites. The company’s rethink crystallised after Congress general secretary Rahul Gandhi hinted on August 26 that the Niyamgiri hills would not be given for mining to Vedanta Alumina. During the past two days, the chief...