Making it clear that illegal mining would not be allowed to continue, the Supreme Court, acting on a report of the Central Empowered Committee (CEC), on Friday directed suspension of the 19 mining leases in Karnataka in the Bellary region and restrained these mines from carrying on operations until further orders. The Forest Bench comprising Chief Justice of India S.H. Kapadia, Justice Aftab Alam and Justice K.S. Radhakrishnan passed the restraint order...

Indian Social Action Forum, Janhastakshep, People's Union for Civil Liberties, All-India Students Association and other citizens' groups jointly staged a protest demonstration near Maharashtra Sadan here on Monday condemning the detention and harassment of yatris taking part in the anti-nuclear yatra in Maharashtra. In a memorandum to the Resident Commissioner of Maharashtra, the protesters demanded that there be no interruption in the route of the yatra and also an end to...

The draft bill seeks to create an institution that will be independent of those it seeks to police, and will have powers to investigate and prosecute all public servants, and others found guilty of corrupting them. A number of commentators have raised issues about the provisions in the draft of the Jan Lokpal Bill. They have asked whether it would be an effective instrument to check corruption. They have pointed to...

The government on Monday told the Supreme Court that it had given its consent for a CBI probe into alleged corruption in the utilisation of National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme (NREGS) funds in Orissa. “The consent to have an investigation into the alleged misappropriation and diversion of funds for the scheme has been given by the minister concerned (Ministry of Rural Development),” Additional Solicitor General Indira Jaising told a bench headed...

India should look at renewable energy to meet its power needs, Environment Minister Jairam Ramesh has said. In a letter to Prime Minister Manmohan Singh last week, Ramesh drew his attention to a World Bank report on renewable energy in India. The report suggests that renewable energy is an important part of the solution to India's power shortage. The letter gains significance as the coal and power ministries have cited growth...