-The Telegraph New Delhi: A Union government panel has found evidence of rampant illegal mining along the Yamuna in Gautam Budh Nagar in Uttar Pradesh where the suspension of an IAS officer who had cracked down on the sand mafia has snowballed into a political controversy. A three-member panel set up by the environment ministry said there has been "rampant, unscientific and illegal mining" at several sites along the river in violation...

-The Hindu Making the Gross Domestic Product the sole measure of national development for many years has left Indians with a natural environment that is among the most polluted in the world. Regardless of that dismal outcome, and in spite of settled law that polluters should pay, the Centre and State governments continue to balk at stronger enforcement of environmental laws. New evidence from a study by the Tata Institute of...

-The Hindu Boards are understaffed, have little time for meetings, inspection or regulation, says study Mumbai: Environmental protection seems to be in shaky hands with political appointees nominated to head State Pollution Control Boards (SPCB) in some places. In one case, the educational qualification of the chairperson was tenth standard. In Karnataka, for instance, the chairperson of the SPCB is Vaman Acharya, a senior BJP leader. In Himachal Pradesh, it is Kuldip Singh...

-The Times of India SHIMLA: With their protests having failed to impact power corridors of the state, tribals in Lahaul-Spiti, who are opposing the 400MW Seli hydro project on Chenab river, have now decided that no villager would rent their houses to project officials, and they will be barred from entering their villages. The protesters have called for a bandh in the tribal district on June 5. They said that felling...

-The Hindu Launched towards the end of 2010, the Rs. 9,000-crore Gujarat Solar Park, set up on government wasteland in north Gujarat, has already been producing 214 MW from the sun, making it the first State to generate such capacity at a single location. And when expanded to 5,000 acres from the present 2,669 acres, the Charanka Park, located at a village of Patan district, will generate 500 MW. This will make...