-IPS News RAYAGADA- The deafening din of the lunch gong is sweet music to the 200-odd tribal girls rushing down the stairway, clutching stainless steel plates and tumblers. Sikhsya Niketan (House of Education) in Chattikona administrative block of Rayagada district is a residential school meant exclusively for girls of the Dongria Kondh tribe in eastern Odisha state. The school is part of the federal government’s intensified efforts to take universal education to...

-The Hindustan Times Environment ministry will set up an expert committee to find out the mining companies, including in coal sector, who have failed to start mining despite getting environment clearances and to strengthen the ministry's monitoring process. The ministry has given environment clearance to 530 million tonnes to coal but operations to mine only 200 million has started. Many companies have failed to start mining despite getting the clearance years ago. There is...

-PTI The CBI has registered five cases in connection with illegal iron ore export scam worth Rs. 2500 crore and carried out searches at 17 locations, including in the premises of associates of jailed mining baron G Janardhan Reddy, on Saturday. Acting on the orders of Supreme Court which asked the agency to probe the scam, the agency registered five cases and a preliminary enquiry against firms and exporters allegedly related...

-The Times of India PANAJI: Following the adverse report by the Shah commission on illegal mining in Goa, the Union environment and forests minister Jayanthi Natarajan on Wednesday announced the suspension of environment clearances given to all 93 functional mining leases in the state. The orders came a day after TOI's story on how the central government had given illegal clearances to Goa's iron ore mines even under PM Manmohan Singh's watch...

-PTI PANAJI: The Union ministry of environment and forest (MoEF) on Wednesday suspended the environment clearances (EC) of all the 93 mining leases in Goa asking the mine owners to submit the relevant documents. The mine owners will have to submit their documents which are required for getting the environment clearances, minister of environment and forest Jayanti Natarajan told reporters in Panaji on Wednesday. Justice MB Shah commission, in its report on Goa's...