A day before the Group of Ministers meeting on environment clearances, the Environment Ministry has expressed willingness to increase the coal mining area to 74 % in 28 blocks, which fall in forests, as against 65% earlier. Environment minister Jairam Ramesh is expected to inform the GoM that he was willing to allow coal mining in 28 coal blocks, which fall in 'No-Go' areas by redefining its boundaries. This means that an...

Has Environment Minister Jairam Ramesh, who till recently was known for his green ‘overdrive’, toned down? Conditional clearance to several high-profile projects, including Posco and SAIL, is a pointer to how his ministry has softened its stand. Ahead of a meeting of the group of ministers (GoM) tomorrow, on the ‘no-go’ issue related to coal projects, 16 coal projects, that have been stuck for a year now, are set to get...

The Posco opponents have thrown a direct challenge to the police and civil authorities by breaking the road leading to Jtadhari, where the South Korean steel major has proposed to put up a captive port. The authorities are gearing up for starting work at the steel plant project site near Paradip after the union ministry of environment and forest cleared Posco-India's proposal to set up a 12 million ton steel plant,...

After giving clearance to Chiria mines and Korean giant POSCO’s steel plant s on “developmental” grounds, the Environment Ministry under Jairam Ramesh has once again been pushed to the backfoot — this time by Congress Member of Parliament Naveen Jindal’s Jindal Steel & Power. The ministry on Monday announced it was withdrawing its earlier threat to withdraw environmental clearance to Jindal’s Rs25,000 crore steel and power plant in Angul, Orissa. The ministry...

Tribal communities are vulnerable not only because they are poor, assetless and illiterate compared to the general population, their distinct vulnerability arises from their inability to negotiate and cope with the consequences of their forced integration with the mainstream economy, society, and cultural and political system. The repercussions for the already fragile socio-economic livelihood base of the tribals have been devastating—ranging from loss of livelihoods, land alienation on a vast...