-The Economic Times Vedanta's alumina project in Odisha's Lanjigarh will be stuck for at least five more months, with the Supreme Court today referring the controversial issue of Mining the nearby Niyamgiri hills back to the gram sabhas. A bench, comprising justices Aftab Alam, K.S. Radhakrishnan and Ranjan Gogoi, said that the issue of tribal rights, especially their religious rights, had not been determined before grant of permission to mine the hills...

-Outlook Development activities including thermal power projects, Mining and other polluting industries should not be allowed in a 60,000 sq km ecologically sensitive "natural landscape" of Western Ghats, a mountainous range that passes through six states, a Government panel said today. In its report, the 10-member high-level working group, headed by eminent scientist K Kasturirangan, has not recommended any regulatory mechanism for the remaining 96,000 sq km area of the Western...

-The Times of India In the continuing 'Congress vs Congress' green battle, the Union tribal ministryhas once again rebuffed the Andhra government's attempt to start Mining in tribal pockets of Vishakhapatnam, rejecting the claim that ban on sale or lease of tribal land to non-tribals was not applicable to state corporations. Reiteration of the illegality came after Andhra mounted a fresh defence of the bauxite Mining lease - after a meeting in...

-PTI Bangalore: JDS Karnataka unit president and former chief minister H D Kumaraswamy and his wife Anita, contesting the May 5 Assembly elections, have together declared assets worth Rs 123 crore. With assets of Rs 150.58 crore, the list of rich candidates is topped by T N Javarayi Gowda, also from JDS headed by former Prime Minister H D Deve Gowda, who filed his nominations from Yeshvanthpur in Bangalore yesterday. Kumaraswamy, Gowda's son,...

-The Economic Times Tribal affairs minister VKishore Chandra Deo is best known for engaging Cabinet colleagues through carefully-crafted letters to get his point across. From preventing the dilution ofForest Rights Act to a directive to governors to stop Mining in tribal areas, the 66-year-old activist-minister believes in winning over Cabinet colleagues politely. And he has proved one doesn't have to be outspoken, like some of his colleagues, to get work done....