-The Economic Times   While attention has been riveted on illegal mining in Karnataka and Andhra Pradesh, thanks to the Supreme Court-ordered probe into the activities of key players, envIronmental activists and political parties have now turned their gaze to Congresscontrolled Goa. The western coastal state, which has rich deposits of Iron ore, has now turned alive with charges of a Rs 8,000-crore mining scam. Goa Chief Minister Digambar Kamat's role, which has...

When the controversial Finance Ministry note to the Prime Minister's Office (PMO) on P. Chidambaram's role in 2G spectrum allocation was traced to a Right to Information application, there was surprise — and some concern — both within the government and in RTI circles. The government's discomfiture was understandable: The RTI Act, which was its proud creation, recoiled on it much like the boon that Lord Shiva granted Basmasura. In the...

Mulling It Over     100% FDI allowed in pharma sector through automatic route     Seven top Indian firms have been acquired by MNCs in the past six years     Fear of price rise in generic medicines if MNCs control market     Health, commerce ministries want FDI to go through approvals     PMO meeting key ministries next month to take a decision *** Prime Minister Manmohan Singh has always been firm in reminding domestic industry that their fear...

In March this year, the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) raided the houses and businesses of a few top industrialists in Dhanbad, Jharkhand, home to one of the subsidiaries of India's biggest coal miner, Coal India (CIL). Dhanbad is more widely known in popular imagination as home of the infamous 'coal mafia', which spread a reign of terror across the coal mining districts of the then undivided Bihar in the...

Mamata Banerjee’s assurance over land allotment, coal access falls flat. Two weeks after West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee assured JSW Steel vice chairman and managing director Sajjan Jindal that all issues will be Ironed out, fresh problems, including capping access to coal mines have struck the state’s largest investment. A number of riders are creeping into the terms and conditions set forth in the development agreement that JSW Steel had signed...