The arrest of BJP MP Dinu Solanki's nephew, in the RTI activist Amit Jethava's murder case, has reopened some interesting dossiers on the duo. Police officials, investigating this case, have laid their hands on reports prepared earlier on Dinu Solanki and his nephew Shiva Solanki in the break down of law and order in Kodinar in 2003. Three letters written by three senior police officials in 2003 laid bare a...

IN THE ‘environment versus development’ debate, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh opted to take the middle path. Addressing environmental concerns was important but it cannot be at the cost of perpetuating poverty, he said. Lest pro-industry groups mistake his stance as undiluted support, Mr Singh stressed that environmental concerns are “here to stay.” If the Greens felt that their writ would run, they too were to be disappointed. He has made...

The environment ministry has issued environmental violation notice to Anil Agarwal-promoted Vedanta Alumina’s Lanjigarh refinery. Violations include failure to adhere to environment protection norms, unauthorised expansion of capacity to 6 million tonnes and sourcing of bauxite from illegal mines. The company has time till September 14 to submit its reply. An unsatisfactory explanation could result in the refinery’s closure. The ministry had, last week, rejected Vedanta’s $1.7 billion bauxite Mining...

Will earmark regions out of bounds for Mining To identify areas of dense forest cover where Mining will not be allowed Bid to avert delay of projects and their getting stalled on environmental grounds Seeking to adopt a holistic approach to the issue of Mining and avoid a repeat of the Niyamgiri incident, the Mines Ministry will soon draw up a new policy that would clearly earmark regions that would be out of...

11 of its source mines did not have a valid clearance One week after Vedanta Aluminium's application to mine bauxite in the Niyamgiri Hills of Orissa was rejected, its refinery expansion project has been slapped with a show-cause notice by the Union Ministry of Environment and Forests. The company was taken to task for allegedly going ahead with a six-fold expansion of its refinery in Lanjigarh even as the Ministry was still...