-The Hindu Meet adopts outcome report on Sustainable Development The veil of mist hiding the Macico da Tijuca, the mountains that guard the Brazilian city of Rio, lifted as the Rio+20 summit concluded on Friday with the adoption of the outcome report on Sustainable Development. The report had been finalised by the heads of states and thousands of delegates after prolonged deliberation and intense sparring. The helicopters hovering over the mountainous city, the...

-The Hindu Lack of irrigation found to be one of the major causes of farmer suicides Lack of irrigation is one of the major causes leading to cotton farmer suicides in Maharashtra, a new study by the Council of Social Development (CSD) has stated. Titled ‘Socio-economic impact assessment of Bt cotton in India,’ the study has yet again raised the question of whether the marginal land of Vidarbha is suited for Bt...

-The Guardian 'Pathway for a sustainable future' declared, but Greenpeace says summit was failure of epic proportions Amid doubt, disappointment and division, the world's governments came together in Rio on Friday to declare "a pathway for a sustainable century". At the close of the Rio+20 Earth Summit, heads of state and ministers from more than 190 nations signed off on a plan to set global Sustainable Development goals and other measures to...

-PTI Reflecting the concerns of India, the Rio+20 summit has said that developing countries needed additional resources for Sustainable Development and that unwarranted conditionalities on Official Development Assistance (ODA) and finance should be avoided. “We reaffirm that developing countries need additional resources for Sustainable Development,” said the 55-page declaration adopted at the end of the Rio+20 summit officially called “United Nations Conference on Sustainable Development”. Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, in his address at...

-The Hindu Single judge’s order set aside; setback to Mamata government In a setback to the Mamata Banerjee government, a Division Bench of the Calcutta High Court on Friday struck down the Singur Land Rehabilitation and Development Act, 2011, terming it “unconstitutional and void.” The law was enacted by the Trinamool Congress-led government to return a portion of the land acquired for the Tata Motors’ small car factory at Singur to “unwilling farmers”...