-The Hindu The Cabinet Committee on Investment (CCI) seems to be helping to raze green speed-bumps - ruffling the feathers of environment and tribal activists in the process - with environment clearances having been issued for more than Rs. 45,000 crore worth of projects in its first two months of existence. In the next few months, the CCI expects to spur revisions in clearance provisions for high-rises, SEZs and roads, and form...

-The Times of India PANAJI: The Union mines ministry hasn't ruled out pollution hazards while handling mining dumps in Goa. Union mines minister Dinsha Patel told parliament on Tuesday, "Such possibilities (pollution hazards while moving dumps) cannot be ruled out, and the same has been brought to the notice of the state government by the Indian bureau of mines, a sub-ordinate office under the ministry of mines, for proper environmental clearances as...

-The Hindu ‘State nod enough for diversion of forest land unless it significantly affects quality of life of displaced persons’ In a major turnaround in its stand on the Vedanta case, the government on Thursday told the Supreme Court that Gram Sabha consent was not required for diversion of forest land, barring in exceptional cases. In an affidavit submitted in the court, the government — the Ministries of Tribal Affairs and Environment and...

-The Economic Times KORAPUT/NEW DELHI: Villagers protesting against Hindalco's plan to mine bauxite at Mali Parbat in the Koraput district in Odisha have come up with a unique proposal that offers to compensate the state for its loss in revenue from royalty. Forty one villages from the district, two thirds of whose largely tribal population live below poverty line, have proposed to soon pass panchayat resolutions promising to pay Rs 35 crore,...

The Fifth Schedule of the Constitution, the 73rd amendment and the landmark PESA and Forest Rights Act (FRA) have progressively acknowledged the rights, and special powers of the Gram Sabha in deciding developmental projects as well as playing a role in protecting the ecology and forests. But a clutch of clever exemptions in recent months are ensuring that centralised authorities take away the same powers through the back door, without routing...