-The Economic Times NEW DELHI: Environment and forest minister Veerappa Moily on Wednesday rolled back a major hurdle in the forest clearance process for projects like roads, transmission lines and pipelines that pass through villages and forest land, reintroduced in July 2013 by his predecessor Jayanthi Natarajan. The environment ministry has clarified on January 15 that linear projects would be able to get a forest clearance without procuring the consent of all...

-Live Mint UPA govt hasn't succeeded in improving learning outcomes in India's schools, says the report New Delhi: Despite levying a tax to fund education and enacting a law to ensure access to education for all children between the ages of 6 and 14, the government hasn't succeeded in improving learning outcomes in India's schools, according to the Annual Status of Education Report (ASER) published on Wednesday. The quality of learning-as measured...

-The Hindu The decision of the Ministry of Environment and Forests to revalidate the environmental clearance issued to South Korean steelmaker Posco for the proposed steel plant in odisha is based on a piecemeal approach, rather than a comprehensive and cumulative assessment of all parts of the project. It cannot claim to rely on sound judgment. What distinguishes the proposal from the welter of projects before the Ministry is its...

-The Pioneer Bhubaneswar: Despite numerous policies and amendment in Hindu Succession Act, 2005 that provides inheritance rights to the Indian women on their parental agricultural land, the law has remained a non-starter with just 10 per cent of women having been able to own land in the country. Aimed at elevating the land rights issue of rural women, Landesa in partnership with Oxfam India organised a State level media workshop titled, ‘A...

-Outlook Bhubaneswar: Optimistic about progress of Posco's Rs 52,000 crore steel project, odisha government today said it would sign a fresh tripartite agreement with the South Korean steel major as the validity of the original MoU lapsed three years ago. "The state government will sign a fresh agreement with Posco and Posco-India for setting up the proposed mega steel mill near Paradip," Steel and Mines minister R K Singh said while describing...