Ministries of environment and foRests and tribal affairs have jointly set up a 10-member committee to study and assess the impact of FoRest Rights Act on sustainable management of foRest resources. Given the lead role played by the environment ministry in this committee, concerns have been flagged off by civil society organisations about the real intent and legality of the committee. The committee headed by former director-general of FoRest Survey...

Saving the world’s myriad diverse species, which are being lost to human activity at an unprecedented rate that some experts put at 1,000 times the natural progression, is vital not just for environmental reasons but for the economic well-being of humankind, a senior United Nations official said today. “Without preserving biodiversity and preserving our natural habitat, the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) just cannot be achieved,” UN Development Programme (UNDP) Environment and...

A revenue court in Vidarbha has issued orders Restoring a disputed piece of land to a poor farmer who alleged that six relatives of President Pratibha Patil, including her husband Devisinh Shekhawat, had tried to illegally transfer the plot in their names. Ashok Amankar, the sub-divisional officer (SDO) of Daryapur, who has quasi-judicial powers, issued orders stating that the names of Devisinh, his sister-in-law Siddeshwar Lalsinh Shekhawat, her sons Bhanwarsinh, Kishoresinh...

The Delhi High Court on Wednesday ruled that there could be no curb on the number of licences issued to cycle-rickshaw pullers as it would be against their right to earn livelihood and also hamper the “invaluable” linkage provided by rickshaws. The Bench headed by Chief Justice A P Shah and comprising Justices S Ravindra Bhat and S Muralidhar also took exception to the by-law authorising the police, the Municipal...

A local court in Maharashtra has upheld a farmer's plea that India's first family had fraudulently usurped a little more than one hectare of his farmland. Surprisingly, the order was made last December 7 but never made public since the order wasn't given to either party until Tuesday. In the order, the court of Daryapur subdivisional officer Ashok Amankar directed striking off the names of President Pratibha Patil Shekhawat's family...