Chandil, Jharkhand: Outrage has given way to expectancy in West Singhbhum, Jharkhand, where people are now waiting for the benefits that will come to them from a multipurpose project on the Subarnarekha, a venture that is finally set to take off after 40 years of holdups and protests.   On June 15, a team of engineers will test the dam’s vital functions and, if all goes well, the inauguration is expected in...

-The Times of India The iron and steel industry might be recording an impressive 8% annual growth, but it is struggling to meet environmental norms, the Centre for Science and Environment (CSE) concluded while rating its performance.  The results of the study were released by Union environment and forests minister Jayanthi Natarajan and Planning Commission member Arun Maira here on Monday.  After a two-year study, the Delhi-based green NGO concluded that Ispat Industries...

Yet-to-be-made public report dismisses environmental concerns The high-level committee set up by the Union Ministry of Environment and Forests (MoEF) to study the socio-economic and ecological impacts of the proposed bauxite mining in Andhra Pradesh’s Visakhapatnam district has submitted its final report  favouring mining. The committee concludes mining will not have any significant negative impact on the ecology. At the same time it recommends settling all claims under the Forest Rights...

Government should consider a freeze on mining in Naxal-hit areas, tribal affairs minister V Kishore Chandra Deo has said. Deo clarified that he was not against the industry or economic development, but unresolved land rights and mining were principle causes of alienation among tribals. This gave Maoists a toe-hold to exercise control over the area and local population. “To a certain extent, unrest among the tribal population can be traced to...

School texts that teach young minds that politics is a contentious and critical but reasonable activity, that it is not merely a set of demands and commands, and that politicians have to be responsive and accountable are naturally disliked by the political class. This is the tone of all the Political Science textbooks of Standards IX-XI brought out after 2006. The nurturing of a culture of critical public opinion seems...