-The Hindu ‘State nod enough for diversion of forest land unless it significantly affects quality of life of displaced persons’ In a major turnaround in its stand on the Vedanta case, the government on Thursday told the Supreme Court that Gram Sabha consent was not required for diversion of forest land, barring in exceptional cases. In an affidavit submitted in the court, the government — the Ministries of Tribal Affairs and Environment and...

-The Times of India When the PMO was finalizing the direct benefit transfer (DBT) scheme in October using Aadhaar as the basic platform, at least three other agencies suggested they could implement the new plan equally well. The home ministry's NPR plan prompted the government to divide the work of issuing ID cards in two segments, shrugging off the department of financial services' suggestion that banks and debit cards could be used...

-The Times of India AHMEDABAD: Was BJP MP Dinu Solanki in touch with a prime accused in the murder of RTI activist Amit Jethava, who was gunned down outside Gujarat high court on July 20, 2010? The CBI is investigating a possible link between Solanki and Bahadursinh Vadher, a constable who is the prime accused in the case. The central agency questioned the MP for the third consecutive day in Ahmedabad on...

-The Times of India MUMBAI: Market regulator Sebi on Wednesday cracked down on the retail-to-financial services Sahara group and ordered the attachment of all assets of two Sahara group firms, besides freezing their bank accounts and those of their promoters and directors including that of group head Subrata Roy. Sebi's crackdown on the two Sahara group firms—Sahara Housing Investment Corp and Sahara India Real Estate Corp — comes exactly a week after...

-The Hindu The CBI, expanding its coalgate probe, has launched investigations against 300-odd companies and begun questioning officials of the Steel, Coal and Power departments, the Department of Industrial Policy and Promotion, the Central Mine Planning and Design Institute Limited and the state-run Coal India Limited on allocation of coal blocks between 1993 and 2008. The CBI has laid hands on nearly 700 files from the Coal Ministry, running into 1,60,000 pages,...