Approvals pertain to bauxite mining, alumina factory, wetlands allocation for three thermal projects Union Minister of State for Environment and Forests Jairam Ramesh has announced a probe into all kinds of permission given so far for bauxite mining, setting up of alumina factory and allocation of wetlands in Srikakulam for setting up three thermal power projects. He promised to withdraw all permissions if the report proved that they were given in contravention...

Over 11 elders including women and a couple of children hailing from Orissa's Koratpur District managed to save themselves from the clutches of serfdom in an obscure village of Karnataka. Buzz up!They reached Orissa on Wednesday, where a voluntary forum apprised the District Labour Officer and facilitated their return to their native village. The role of middlemen luring poor landless labourers came to light due to the efforts of Pragati, the non-governmental...

The Centre has imposed temporary restrictions on new development projects in industrial clusters that score more than 70 points on the Comprehensive Environmental Pollution Index (CEPI) issued by the Ministry of Environment and Forests. The restrictions on projects from critically polluted industrial clusters will be applicable for eight months during which time the Central Pollution Control Board along with the respective State Pollution Control Boards will finalise a time-bound action...

There has been uproar in southern India's Andhra Pradesh assembly in protest against the government's decision to create a new state. Lawmakers have shouted slogans against the decision to carve out a new state of Telangana in its north. An estimated 35 million people will live in the new state, Telangana. Separately, a four-day strike called by a regional political party demanding a separate state has begun in India's tea-producing Darjeeling...

As protests against the plan to bifurcate Andhra Pradesh continued during the third day of the bandh in coastal Andhra and Rayalaseema regions, agitators in Nellore closed the gates of the Kandaleru reservoir of the Telugu Ganga project for the second consecutive day and stopped release of water to Chennai for some time before irrigation officials intervened and re-opened them. In Vijayawada, Telugu Desam Party leaders, including two MLAs, launched...