-The Hindu "It is time now for Vedanta to gracefully respect public sentiment and pack off its establishment" JARAPA (ODISHA): Efforts of Vedanta Aluminium Limited (VAL), belonging to London-listed Vedanta Resources Plc, to mine bauxite ore in Niyamgiri hills in Odisha received a severe blow on Monday with the 12th palli (gram) sabha also voting against mining there. This is the first time an environmental referendum is conducted on a directive by the...

-The Times of India LUCKNOW: Illegal mining in Uttar Pradesh between 2005-11 caused a loss of Rs 1,400 crore to the exchequer, says a draft report of the comptroller & auditor general. The report, prepared on the activities of state geology and mining directorate, belies state government's claims on checking illegal mining and indicates that illegal mining is widespread. It reveals several procedural gaps in legal quarrying as well. The auditors, who...

-The Business Standard Quick step by govt to provide alternate source only hope for Lanjigarh refinery Bhubaneswar: The 12-0 drubbing in gram sabhas held to seek a referendum on bauxite mining in Niyamgiri hills has pushed into uncertainty the fate of Rs 5,000 crore one million tonne refinery of Vedanta Aluminium (VAL) at Lanjigarh, which is struggling to stay in operation by sourcing bauxite from different places outside Odisha. The Dongaria tribes of...

-Down to Earth blog Simply put, the sand mafias originated because the sand business is low investment, low risk and high returns, notwithstanding few roadblocks like Ms Durga Shakti Nagpal or the media taking up her cause as a cause celebre! For they know well that with raw material (sand) in easy reach and end user (realty sector) little bothered wherefrom or legality of the ware, business as usual, no matter, shall...

-The Hindu As the operations of organised gangs that seek to make a killing out of the insatiable demand for sand are in focus, environmental concerns posed by indiscriminate mining grow. Nitin Sethi discusses the imperatives. Should India have a river regulatory zone, on the lines of the coastal regulatory zone, to manage development and mining activity? The devastation in Uttarakhand, and the controversy over the sand mafia's control on river beds,...