-The Hindu By exempting some projects on forest land from gram sabha consent, the government has undermined the rights of local communities and their crucial role in protecting the environment In early February, the Ministry of Environment and Forests partially revoked a crucial order it had issued in August 2009, which made the consent of gram sabhas mandatory for projects seeking diversion of forest lands for non-forest purposes. Now, the ministry has...

The Fifth Schedule of the Constitution, the 73rd amendment and the landmark PESA and Forest Rights Act (FRA) have progressively acknowledged the rights, and special powers of the Gram Sabha in deciding developmental projects as well as playing a role in protecting the ecology and forests. But a clutch of clever exemptions in recent months are ensuring that centralised authorities take away the same powers through the back door, without routing...

-The Times of India PATNA: The central construction agencies have failed the state once again insofar as the completion of rural road projects is concerned. Rural works department (RWD) minister Bhim Singh, who visited 12 districts to review the progress, lamented, "They have displayed their inefficiency by not constructing the roads they had been allotted." Singh called the representatives of five central agencies and strictly told them to complete the projects by...

-The Indian Express A committee set up by the Ministry of Environment and Forests has suggested new parameters to declare pristine forested areas as ‘inviolate’ and thus out of bounds for mining or other harmful non-forest activities. The panel, headed by former environment secretary T Chatterjee, has recommended that national parks and wildlife sanctuaries; areas within a kilometre of protected areas; compact patches of very dense forests; last remnants of forest types...

-Outlook Seven more persons fell prey to biting cold wave in UP where death toll due to the harsh weather touched 69 today, while most other parts of North India also shivered and fog disrupted rail and air traffic. The National capital had a gloomy weather as the fog returned after four days, and the maximum temperature was recorded at 17 degree Celsius, a drop of four notches. The minimum was recorded...