The CAG indicts Uttarakhand for pursuing hydel power projects indiscriminately without concern for the environment. IN a severe indictment of the Uttarakhand government, the Comptroller and Auditor General (CAG) of India said it was pushing the State towards a major environmental catastrophe by following a highly ambitious hydropower policy. In a report titled “Performance Audit of Hydropower Development Through Private Sector Participation”, which was released recently, the CAG substantiates the allegations...

In a small pastoral vand (hamlet) in Kutch, Gujarat, 10 year old Ramu wakes up at five in the morning. His mother serves him a hasty breakfast of bajra rotis after which he is packed off to the pasturelands surrounding their small hamlet to graze the family's buffaloes. Since his village does not have a working school, grazing the livestock is gainful employment from the point of view of Ramu's...

The government must stop dilly-dallying over the project and apply the law regardless of the fact that it is India's single largest foreign investment proposal. TWO giant metallurgical projects, both in Orissa. Both promoted by big multinational corporations with tremendous influence. Both opposed by environmental and tribal rights activists because they would displace vulnerable people and destroy fragile ecosystems. Both backed strongly by State-level and national lobbies that claim they...

Four years ago, the National Commission for Women (NCW) and its Delhi chapter (DCW) had sought an answer from the Supreme Court as to what should be the age of marriage for a girl, given the different figures given in various laws and the resultant confusion. On Tuesday, counsel for the commission Aparna Bhat pointed out that despite the lapse of a long time, the Centre has not yet filed its...

In a bid to stall the contentious Land Acquisition (Amendment) Bill, the Trinamool Congress has demanded a detailed discussion in the Lok Sabha before the legislation and the accompanying Resettlement and Rehabilitation Bill are taken up for consideration in the winter session. The Trinamool Congress, which has expressed major reservations on the Land Acquisition (Amendment) Bill, put forward this demand at a meeting of Lok Sabha Business Advisory Committee (BAC) on...