-Outlook Chennai: Attempting to capitalise on 300 clear sunny days available in the state annually, Tamil Nadu government today unveiled a new solar energy policy, envisaging to produce over 3000 MW of power, exclusively from solar power, in the next three years. Christened as 'Tamil Nadu Solar Energy Policy 2012,' the new initiative of the Jayalalithaa government, with a slew of encouraging features, finds opportunity in the rapidly declining solar power costs...

-The Hindustan Times India's ailing economy has found a new scapegoat - environment and forests. For most things that go wrong these days, from power shortage to slow growth, the blame is tossed at the door of the ministry of environment and forests (MoEF), the paradigm being that forests, wildlife and green laws are hurdles to development. So much so, that a Group of Ministers established to 'rationalise' coal mining in forests...

-The Times of India KOLKATA: Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee may root for a hands-off policy on land acquisition, but her Cabinet approved acquisition of 64 acre land for a power project at Dalkhola in West Bengal's Uttar Dinajpur in May. Her political rivals are backing farmers protesting against the state government's land acquisition bid. Forward Bloc MLA from Chakulia Ali Imran Ramz has planned a Nandigram-like stir against the state government. "The...

-The Hindu ‘Vision document mooted to designate them as ‘separate urban natural resources’ The Urban Development Ministry has constituted a working group to suggest ways to preserve water bodies. Rapid disappearance of water bodies from the urban landscape has sounded an alarm vis-à-vis water shortfall and has also put a considerable strain on States’ spending to meet the demand for water. A case in point is Bangalore. Despite having a Lake Development Authority that...

-The Indian Express For Kejriwal and his crew, political targets are guilty until proven guilty After launching a scorched-earth campaign against Law Minister Salman Khurshid, accusing his NGO of skimming off lakhs of rupees from funds for the disabled, and demanding nothing short of his immediate resignation, arrest and incarceration, Arvind Kejriwal has abruptly called off this round. His next event, a fresh set of “exposes”, has been set for October 17. For...