-PTI Armed with a report prepared by former Karnataka Lokayukta on illegal mining, Union Ministry of Mines has asked the Goa government to furnish data on the allegations that the Mormugao Port Trust ( MPT) used to export the Iron ore even as the neighbouring state had banned the activity. The officials in the State Mines and Geology Department told PTI that the Union ministry in a recent meeting in Delhi asked...
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Mining Bill needs refining by Jaideep Mishra
A new draft Bill holds much promise to augment the development delivery mechanism. It is the new mining Bill, 2011, which has specific provisions for earmarking funds for development purposes in the mineral-rich districts that happen to be the regions with high poverty ratios. Revamped mining legislation can boost transparency in the vexed sector that seems much prone to illegality, corruption and extensive fraud. Further, a well-crafted mining law can actually...
More »LIC’s tobacco stain shows by GS Mudur
The Life Insurance Corporation (LIC) invested more than Rs 3,600 crore last year in the tobacco industry, anti-tobacco activists and cancer specialists said today, describing the investments as Ironical and unethical. Figures obtained through the right to information route by a consortium of activists and doctors show that in 2010-11, LIC had invested in shares of ITC and VST Industries and in debentures of Dharampal Satyapal Ltd, which makes chewable tobacco...
More »Should LIC invest in tobacco firms: NGO
-The Times of India Should government-run companies invest in tobacco firms? This is the question that Voices of Tobacco Victims (VoTV), an NGO working for cancer patients, has raised after its recent query under the RTI Act revealed that the Life Insurance Corporation of India has invested up to Rs 3,500 crore in various tobacco companies. "It's the greatest Irony that the government spends Rs 10,000 crore on treatment of tobacco-related illnesses...
More »Earthquake in Sikkim: Natural Calamity and Potential Manmade Disaster by JJ Roy Burman
On September 18 an earthquake of the magnitude of 6.8 by the Richter scale struck Sikkim at about 6.18 pm The epicentre of the quake was located about 67 kms north-west of Gangtok—the State capital. The epicenter was located to be precise at Mangan, the headquarter, of the Sikkim North district. There were about four-to-five aftershocks of lesser intensity within five-to-six hours. Minor tremors were felt even after a few...
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