Posco’s proposed $12 billion steel plant in India is in doubt after a government panel recommended scrapping environment clearances given to the world’s third largest steelmaker. Three of the four members of the panel suggested that approvals should be canceled because of “flaws in the studies, and shortcomings in the clearances granted” to the project in the eastern state of Orissa, Environment Minister Jairam Ramesh told reporters yesterday in New Delhi....

The showpiece proposed iron and steel project in Orissa by South Korean steel major POSCO faces a huge cloud of uncertainty with an expert panel set up by the Environment Ministry alleging violations of environmental laws. Three of its four members today recommended that all initial clearances to the project be cancelled. The lone dissenting voice was that of former Environment Secretary Meena Gupta who argued that there was no need...

The Commonwealth Games corruption probe could lead to raids on the homes and offices of some of the organisers to find missing documents, sources said. Agencies investigating wrongdoing in the Games preparations have complained that key files and documents are untraceable or unavailable at the offices of the government departments that carried out the work. Enforcement Directorate sources said they might raid some of the key people behind the organisation of the...

Two walls of extremes are closing in fast on mankind. The spectre of climate change threatens agriculture, especially in developing countries where farming is dominated by smallscale farmers heavily relying on rainfall. Along with this, is the scourge of burgeoning population, which is likely swell to 9 billion in the next 40 years. According to the Food and Agricultural Organisation (FAO), about 14% of the 6.5-billion world population are affected by...

Two "neglected diseases" -- dengue and cysticercosis -- are costing India nearly $45 million between them every year. According to WHO, around 1 billion of the world's poorest people suffer from such neglected tropical diseases, mostly in urban slums. The global health watchdog said in its latest report the societal monetary cost of cysticercosis -- an infectious disease caused by the pork tapeworm Taenia solium -- is estimated to be $15.27...