-Economic and Political Weekly   Amendments proposed by the previous Congress-led union government to the Panchayat (Extension to Scheduled Areas) Act 1996 had the potential of improving upon this progressive legislation. Unfortunately, with its successor pursuing different priorities, the possibility of the amendments being passed remains rather low. Kamal Nayan Choubey (kamalnayanchoubey@gmail.com) is with the Nehru Memorial Museum and Library, New Delhi. A bill for an amendment to the Panchayat (Extension to Scheduled Areas)...

-Business Standard The Supreme Court asked the Union environment ministry to review six specific hydroelectric projects on the upper Ganga basin in Uttarakhand. On Wednesday, the ministry informed the apex court that its expert committee had checked and found the six had almost all the requisite and legitimate clearances. But, the ministry did not tell the court the experts, in the report to the ministry, had also warned these dams could...

-The Times of India NEW DELHI: The Arvind Kejriwal government's order on Monday against any demolition in Delhi is in tune with the recently extended central legislation, Delhi Laws (Special Provisions) Act 2014, which protects all unauthorized colonies, unauthorized constructions and slums that have come up to June 2014 till 2017. The decision comes in the backdrop of the recent slum demolitions in Rangpuri Pahari and Wazirpur. The protest by a few...

-The Times of India NAGPUR: Subhash Vasant Kamdi and Varsha Anant Bhoyar, organic farmers from Wardha and Nagpur districts, respectively, have set ideal examples for promoting indigenous agriculture and processing. They are also propagating how traditional agriculture can still be more sustainable as compared to commercial agriculture. Kamdi has been into organic cultivation of various crops like wheat and sugarcane. Speaking to TOI during the ongoing three-day 'Seed Festival', he said that...

-The Hindu The report of the High-Level Committee for reviewing environmental laws has a misplaced focus on speedy project clearances and wrongly attributes their delays to environmental laws The report of the High-Level Committee (HLC) on a review of environmental laws may no longer be in the news, but its potential for impacting environmental governance in the country has not diminished. That potential will become real soon enough. A note of caution...