-The Telegraph Jorhat: Villages near the Doyang hydroelectric project in Nagaland today pledged to protect amur falcons, which are killed every year during their brief visit to the area while migrating from Asia to southern Africa. The villagers trap and kill thousands of the migratory raptors for their meat when they visit the wetlands near the project site in the state's Wokha district between the end of October and beginning of November. Amur...

-The Hindu As the operations of organised gangs that seek to make a killing out of the insatiable demand for sand are in focus, environmental concerns posed by indiscriminate mining grow. Nitin Sethi discusses the imperatives. Should India have a river regulatory zone, on the lines of the coastal regulatory zone, to manage development and mining activity? The devastation in Uttarakhand, and the controversy over the sand mafia's control on river beds,...

-The Hindu Maganlal Barela's wife says he loved his daughters, whom he is accused of killing, the most KANERIA VILLAGE (MP): The fragrance of lantana is overpowering as you approach the home of Maganlal Barela, who is on death row for hacking his five daughters to death on June 11, 2010. Supreme Court stayed his execution late on Wednesday night, just hours before the appointed time on Thursday. The mud huts of Maganlal,...

-The Hindu Raipur: Water contamination in flood-affected panchayats of Abujhmarh in Narainpur district of south Chhattisgarh may result in a huge death toll, it is feared. The secretary of one of the affected panchayats, Kamluram Netam, has told journalists of Narainpur that several panchayats of the area are "severely affected and the death toll will go up." So far, more than 20 persons have died due to water-borne diseases, the locals said....

-The Times of India NEW DELHI: Buoyed by the action taken by young IAS officer Durga Sakthi Nagpal against sand mafia, the union ministry of environment and Forest, which has constituted a committee to inquire into the allegations of illegal sand mining in Uttar Pradesh's Gautam Budh Nagar district, has asked for the panel report by Friday. The three-member committee will also look into "adverse environmental impact" of such activities and...