-Hindustan Times Hamirpur/ Jalaun/ Banda: The dangerous sand mafia stops at nothing. It kills, runs over men in uniform, kidnaps and, in Uttar Pradesh, even molests and rapes. Its impunity stems from the fact, as an HT investigation found, that complaints lodged with police often remain confined to files. Shivpal Singh, gram pradhan of Bansariya village, testifies to the mafia’s dominance. “In March 2014, the musclemen of a kingpin sexually assaulted two women...

-The Indian Express From Greenpeace to a Danish government wing to church-backed NGOs, the government has put 14 foreign donors in the “prior approval” category; any transaction they make through Indian banks will need Home Ministry clearance. Among the allegations against them is that they were funding anti-India activities and clandestinely routing money to Greenpeace India. DENMARK DANIDA: Danish International Development Agency, the humanitarian aid wing of Denmark’s foreign ministry. Dan Church Aid: Funded...

-The Indian Express A standoff between the ministries of tribal affairs and environment and forests over the issue of clearances has stalled three key projects, prompting Nripendra Misra, principal secretary to the Prime Minister, to intervene and question the delay. The projects, which are being tracked by the project monitoring group (PMG) of the cabinet committee on investment, are in three different parts of the country: the 2×500 MW project of...

-Business Standard About 100 changes have already been effected through executive orders; new amendments involve structural and policy-level alterations The Centre is all set to overhaul environmental and forest regulations, policies, and laws once the two-day conference of state forest ministers and officials is over. The conference will start on Monday with Prime Minister Narendra Modi addressing it. After effecting some 100-odd changes to regulations through executive orders, the Union environment ministry has...

-Frontline.in   The Modi government has apparently realised that the private sector is not up to the task of driving growth. It hopes to fund its neoliberal dream of India becoming the fastest-growing emerging market through a combination of off-Budget borrowing and drastic expenditure reduction in key social sectors. IT will soon be a year since the National Democratic Alliance (NDA) government under Prime Minister Narendra Modi took office at the Centre....