-The Hindustan Times In June 1992, Manmohan Singh, then finance minister in the Government of India, delivered the Foundation Day Address of the Society for Promotion of Wastelands Development (SPWD). He spoke on the topic ‘Environment and the New Economic Policies’. In his talk, Singh urged “objective standards industry-wise for safeguarding the environment, asking industry to certify compliance with these standards, institution of an effective system of verification and industry audit...

-The Telegraph The Supreme Court has disbanded its 17-year-old green sentinel. The court has wound up its green bench that sat every Friday since 1995 to deal with matters of forests and wildlife and had recently banned iron ore Mining in Bellary, Karnataka, one among a host of far-reaching orders related to the environment. No reasons were given for disbanding the bench, a move legal experts said was inexplicable. The bench has, however, not...

-The Hindu The perils of the system of rat-hole Mining that thousands in Meghalaya routinely engage in were in stark focus over the past week. After a fruitless search that yielded no survivors or bodies in a flooded coal pit in the South Garo Hills, a rescue team of the National Disaster and Rescue Force has called off its operations. This means the 15 miners who were believed trapped underground are...

-The Hindu Fifty-two more local body representatives have resigned protesting ‘police atrocities and lack of development of the region,’ in the Korchi tehsil of Gadchiroli district of Maharashtra. The total number of resignations now stands at 218 in Korchi. “The list includes 27 sarpanchs, 27 deputy sarpanchs, 31 police patils and 133 gram panchayat members,” Nandkishor Vairagade, secretary of the Sarpanch Union of Korchi told The Hindu . “On June 29 Baiju Hidami,...

-PTI Mining of natural resources is the key reason behind exploitation of tribal people and a national policy is required to establish the right of natives on the mineral reserves available in their area, Tribal Affairs Minister V Kishore Chandra Deo said. He also said that though government is aware of this issue, coordination between several ministries and departments is required to take this up with the highest levels. "I don't think anybody...