People's activists want the Kudankulam nuclear power plant shut down completely; Tamil Nadu's politicians have the less ambitious aim of halting work on the project until the fears of local people are allayed. The plant was originally scheduled to begin operations later this month. The two groups submitted separate memoranda to Prime Minister Manmohan Singh during their 40-minute meeting with him on Friday. Atomic Energy Commission Chairman Srikumar Banerjee, National Security...

-The Indian Express   Taking a tough stand on rampant plagiarism in the preparation of Environment Impact Assessment (EIA) reports, the Environment Ministry has decided to scrap any project whose impact-assessment report is found to be a “copy-paste” job from other reports. EIA reports are a must to get mandatory ‘green clearances’ for projects. Project developers, which are mostly private firms, hire independent environmental consultants for the job. The decision to scrap such...

-PTI   The Supreme Court constituted Environment Assessment (EIA) Committee would launch a detailed 15-day survey in mining areas in the district from September 12 to assess the environmental impact due to mining. The survey team is headed by Indian Council of Forestry Research and Education (ICFRE) Director General Dr V K Bahuguna. Speaking to reporters here, Bahuguna said they visited Gonda Reserve Forest and Vyasanakere in Hospet taluk today and found most mining...

Orders Environment Impact Assessment study in the area The Supreme Court, which earlier suspended mining operations in the Bellary area, on Friday partially lifted the ban and allowed the public sector National Mineral Development Corporation to undertake mining in two leases to cater for the domestic market. The Forest Bench of Chief Justice S.H. Kapadia and Justices Aftab Alam and Swatanter Kumar, however, rejected the plea by a private miners' association that...

The announcement last weekend by the prime minister that an independent National Environmental Appraisal and Monitoring Agency (NEAMA) would shortly be set up has been welcomed in the media. The PM indicates that it would be staffed by professionals, will set up a new process for environmental appraisal of projects, and monitor the observance of environmental management plans. It would be a recommendatory body, subject to final decision-making by the...