-The Hindu Left parties for invoking Revenue Recovery Act against Rakshana Steels ‘owned' by YSR's kin With the State government cancelling the Bayyaram Iron ore mining lease earlier granted to Rakshana Steels, a company allegedly belonging to former Chief Minister Y. S. Rajasekhara Reddy's kin, the demand for recovery of the lost mineral wealth has gained momentum. An enormous extent of over 1.41 lakh acres of Iron-rich areas spread across Bayyaram, Garla and...

Rejecting the view that the cartoon in the Standard XII textbook, prepared by the NCERT, denigrated the anti-Hindi movement in Tamil Nadu, Yogendra Yadav, Senior Fellow, Centre for the Study of Developing Societies, argued that the “book is one of the first attempts in the history of textbook writing in India to have given due prominence to the Dravidian Movement in post-Independent India.” “I am shocked and surprised to see that...

Contending that the NCERT textbook on political science did not represent the views or prejudices of one or two authors, Yogendra Yadav, who was chief adviser to the NCERT on the subject, said the book was developed by a large team of political scientists, teachers and educationists. “Given the very sensitive nature of the book, the entire text was shown to three eminent historians of contemporary India — Professor Sunil Khilnani,...

-The Business Standard The Western Ghats need local envIronmental governance What sets the report of the Western Ghats Ecology Expert Panel, headed by Professor Madhav Gadgil, apart from most other reports delivered by such government-appointed committees is that it does not view envIronmental factors in isolation from development imperatives. Nevertheless, its recommendations pay careful attention to the need for protection and preservation of the biological wealth of one of the world’s hot...

-The Business Standard Better regulation of the sector is needed The envIronmental performance of the Indian Iron and steel industry is poor, according to the latest indices released by the Green Rating Project of the Centre for Science and EnvIronment. On a scale of 10 (the theoretical best), the global best practitioners score eight, while the Indian leaders score only two. The steel industry, if it chooses to ignore this index, will...