The government must stop dilly-dallying over the project and apply the law regardless of the fact that it is India's single largest foreign investment proposal. TWO giant metallurgical projects, both in Orissa. Both promoted by big multinational corporations with tremendous influence. Both opposed by environmental and tribal rights activists because they would displace vulnerable people and destroy fragile ecosystems. Both backed strongly by State-level and national lobbies that claim they...

The environment ministry has told Vedanta Aluminium to stop all construction on the six-fold expansion of its Aluminium refinery at Niyamgiri in Orissa, citing violation of environment laws. In a letter sent to the company today, the Jairam Ramesh-headed ministry also said Orissa’s forest and environment department should take legal action against the firm for the violations in its attempted expansion of the plant from 1 million tonnes per annum (mtpa)...

The First ever Kui Music Album ‘Niyamgiri ti Rani’ was launched here at Mayfair, Bhubaneswar on 19th October, 2010. This is one-of-its kind initiative in the country to bring the beauty, the rich cultural heritage, their music and language to the limelight. The Dongria Kondhas are one of the primitive tribal inhabitants of Lanjigarh, in the district of Kalahandi. Kui, the traditional language of the Dongria Kondhas, has a rich oral...

The four-member review committee on Posco  will submit its report to the environment and forests ministry on Monday but it has already got mired in controversy with the chair of the panel, ex-environment secretary Meena Gupta, expected to give a dissent note while the other members provide a unanimous majority version. The fact that the chair of the committee was the senior-most bureaucrat in MoEF when environmental clearance was given to...

The government is likely to make it mandatory for mining companies to hand over a part of their revenues and make annual payments to land losers, bringing compensation rules in this sector in line with a policy followed by the Haryana government which has won the backing of Congress president Sonia Gandhi. But in a sop to companies, which have been unenthusiastic about earlier plans for profit-sharing, the ministry of...