-The Telegraph New Delhi: The government is set to test a new strategy to build highways, using geofoam - or giant lightweight polystyrene blocks - in a bid to slash construction time and costs and increase the life span of roads by reducing the risk of rain-triggered damage. Officials said the Union ministry of road transport and highways had cleared a proposal to use Thermocol, a popular geofoam brand, as the filler...

-The Hindu Bubble createdby them resulted in high NPAs Banks caused a bubble, failed to do due diligence and lent more than what was warranted to developers, and this has led to the high Non-Performing Assets (NPA) arising out of the road sector, Road Secretary Vijay Chhibber told The Hindu in an exclusive interview on Wednesday. “The banks have killed the road sector,” he said. “There was a bubble because the banks would...

-The Indian Express Justice Dattu was responding to a submission from senior lawyer Harish Salve that he had to take a steroid for the first time last week to tackle breathing problems caused by pollution in the national capital. New Delhi: A hearing on air pollution in Delhi led to an unusual admission in the Supreme Court on Monday by Chief Justice of India H L Dattu — his grandson “looks...

-The Hindu The Compensatory Afforestation Bill has raised significant money, which must be used to restore existing forests rather than on artificial plantations On Parliament’s wooden desks, a Bill is knocking. The Compensatory Afforestation Fund Bill seeks to govern how forests will be raised, cut, and resurrected across India. It will be looking at how a fund of Rs. 38,000 crore, collected from cutting down forests, is to be used. Meant initially just...

-The Hindu Business Line NITI Aayog’s Arvind Panagariya on why allowing the Ordinance on land acquisition to lapse will not hinder the reforms process “With the lapse of the Ordinance amending the Land Acquisition Act, 2013, it is an opportune time to take a fresh look at the land acquisition issue and look for ways forward,” Arvind Panagariya, Vice-Chairman, NITI Aayog, wrote in his blog. Tasked with the responsibility of setting up...