-Outlook The Justice MB Shah Commission probing into the multi-crore mining scam today said most of the Iron ore and manganese mines in Odisha would come under the purview of its investigation. "The commission will verify records and probe into all the Iron ore and manganese mines allocated since 1952 whether closed or in operational stage," said U V Singh, the team leader and Principal Conservator of Forest in Karnataka. Stating that about...

-Forbes India Why the recent Supreme Court ruling threatens to kill citizens’ Right to Information The Supreme Court has placed the Central Information Commission (CIC), the apex body to deal with appeals regarding RTI, as well as the Information Commissions across the states in a fine pickle. On September 13, a division bench of the Supreme Court, chaired by Justice AK Patnaik and Justice Swatanter Kumar, passed an order which would fundamentally change...

-Outlook Goa government has constituted several teams to inspect and quantify the Iron ore stacked at various points in the state before allowing it to be exported, a senior official said today. The state government, in its order dated September 10, had decided to allow only the already extracted and ready for transportation ore to be exported, thus discouraging fresh extraction. The teams comprising officials from the mines and forest departments and Goa...

-The Economic Times The central government has banned states from allowing sale or export of Iron ore by companies granted mining leases for own steel production. "The entire ore produced in the mining operation (of captive mines) shall be used exclusively for own consumption in Iron or steel making and cannot be either sold in India or exported to other countries," the mines ministry said in an order issued on September...

-Al Jazeera  Organic farming is the "only way to produce food" without harming the planet and people's health. Reports trying to create doubts about organic agriculture are suddenly flooding the media. There are two reasons for this. Firstly, people are fed up of the corporate assault of toxics and GMOs. Secondly, people are turning to organic agriculture and organic food as a way to end the toxic war against the earth and...