As leaders from two of the world's largest financial institutions, the World Bank and International Monetary Fund, met for annual meetings here Tuesday, a delegation of activists from India called on the World Bank to follow through with its proposal to dramatically cut funding for coal-burning power stations. Over the next few days, the delegation will travel from Washington to West Virginia where, in the heart of the Appalachian Mountains, activists...

This wedding season, anxious grooms from Parsa and Ghatburra, two villages in Chhattisgarh's Surguja district, were offered financial assistance from an unlikely source. Adani Mining Pvt Ltd, a subsidiary of Adani Enterprises Ltd, was handing out loans to all those who could prove that the money would be spent on marriage arrangements. “A company official took us to the bank, opened accounts in our names, and gave us cheques for Rs....

The Karnataka government, which is in the thick of controversy over acquisition of land for several big-ticket investors, is in no mood to accept certain changes proposed in the new Land Acquisition and Resettlement & Rehabilitation Bill tabled in Parliament last week. Instead, the government is in the process of revamping its existing land acquisition policy. The state government is not agreeable to the 80 per cent consent norm proposed in...

-The Hindu   They were objecting to ‘forcible' land acquisition for power project At least two dozen farmers were injured when the police resorted to a baton charge in the early hours of Thursday to break up their agitation against land acquisition in front of the Deputy Commissioner's office at Gobindpura of Punjab's Mansa district. The farmers, owing allegiance to 17 organisations, were protesting against what they called forcible acquisition of fertile land across...

Are environmental clearances delaying industrial development in the country? Some in the government might claim so and argue for further easing of green norms but government data shows otherwise. In the past three years, the rate of rejection of projects for environmental clearance was an insignificant 1.13%. Out of the 1,689 projects that the environment ministry decided upon from 2008 up to August 2011, only 19 were rejected. The ministry...