-The Hindu   The Goa government on Tuesday filed a reply before the Goa Bench of the Bombay High Court to a Public Interest Litigation petition on illegal Mining, claiming that the extraction, which the petitioner questioned, was from dumps and excess Mining did not take place. The affidavit was submitted on behalf of Director of Mines and Geology Arvind Loliekar in the course of the hearing on the Goa Foundation's petition, which...

The National Commission for Scheduled Tribes is upset that two important bills that would affect tribals have got the cabinet’s nod without incorporating suggestions given by the panel. “The ministries of mines and rural development failed to consult the NCST as mandated by the Constitution,” commission chairman Rameshwar Oraon told The Telegraph on Wednesday. Secretaries of both ministries had met Oraon, but what the NCST chief meant was the final drafts of...

A fresh public interest litigation (PIL) was filed in the Supreme Court on Friday challenging the United Progressive Alliance (UPA) government’s civil nuclear power programme. The PIL, filed by lawyer Prashant Bhushan on behalf of many former public officials and eminent citizens, makes several demands of the Supreme Court, but most significantly asks it to cancel “clearances given to proposed nuclear power plants and staying all proposed nuclear power plants” till satisfactory...

Why were two tribals and the Essar group framed by the Chhattisgarh police? Why are Soni Sori and Linga Kodopi being systematically silenced? This chilling story of one family reveals more about India's Naxal crisis than any official document can. AS I sit to write this, at 12.20 pm on 4 October 2011, an SMS pops up on my phone: “Soni Sori has been arrested by the Delhi Crime Branch.” The...

A new draft Bill holds much promise to augment the development delivery mechanism. It is the new Mining Bill, 2011, which has specific provisions for earmarking funds for development purposes in the mineral-rich districts that happen to be the regions with high poverty ratios. Revamped Mining legislation can boost transparency in the vexed sector that seems much prone to illegality, corruption and extensive fraud.  Further, a well-crafted Mining law can actually...