-The Hindu The Compensatory Afforestation Fund is a deeply flawed and unjust mechanism Last month, Minister of State for Environment, Forests and Climate Change Mahesh Sharma informed Parliament that his Ministry has collected over ?50,000 crore in a Central compensatory afforestation fund (CAF). This money is to be used though the Compensatory Afforestation Fund (CAF) Act, 2016 or CAF, a purported mechanism to offset forest loss. Before issuing forest clearances to a...
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Govt hints at SC/ST ruling review plea
-The Telegraph New Delhi: The Centre has said it is examining the "desirability of filing a review petition" against last week's Supreme Court order diluting the SC-ST Act, ending days of dithering amid mounting pressure from allies and Dalit BJP parliamentarians. "I have instructed my ministry to examine the desirability of filing a review in this case. Appropriate actions are being taken," Union law minister Ravi Shankar Prasad said at a news...
More »Deadline for linking Aadhaar with welfare schemes extended to June 30
-PTI The deadline for linking bank accounts and mobile phone numbers with 12-digit biometric identifier Aadhaar has already been extended indefinitely. The government on March 28 extended by three months the deadline of March 31 for linking Aadhaar with welfare schemes, where benefits are transferred to Citizens from the Consolidated Fund of India. The deadline now stands extended to June 30, 2018, according to an office memorandum of the Ministry of Electronics and...
More »Aadhaar is blind to purpose of validation: UIDAI CEO -Dhananjay Mahapatra
-The Times of India NEW DELHI: Aadhaar is blind to the purpose of authentication as it only establishes identity and nothing more, Unique Identification Authority of India (UIDAI) CEO Ajay Bhushan Pandey told the Supreme Court on Thursday, countering apprehensions that Aadhaar would result in “virtual surveillance” of Citizens. In the course of a Power-Point presentation, Pandey said Aadhaar was a tool to establish identity and was not an aggregator of...
More »Centre seeks to change forest policy to promote industrial plantations in natural forests -Kumar Sambhav Shrivastava
-Scroll.in The existing policy bans commercial activity in natural forests to protect forest dwellers. The new draft policy is up for public comments till April 14. The Union government has drafted a new National Forest Policy. If approved, the policy will allow the corporate sector to grow, harvest and sell trees on government-owned forest lands. So far, this is explicitly banned under the existing National Forest Policy, which was laid down...
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