-The Economic Times The environment ministry has simplified the procedures for granting clearances to special economic zones as it seeks to shed the anti-industry image. A recent order issued by the environment ministry states that the environmental clearance process for SEZs will now follow the system laid out for National Industrial and Manufacturing Zones under the National Manufacturing Policy 2011. Under the new system, the central and state governments will delegate power to...

-Frontline Farmers protest against the Central clearance for coal bed methane exploration in Mannargudi, Tamil Nadu, as they fear it will devastate agriculture in Tiruvarur and Thanjavur districts.  THE woes of the delta farmers of Tamil Nadu are far from over. While the Cauvery tangle continues unresolved, they fear the proposed multi-crore project for commercial exploration and exploitation of coal bed methane (CBM) in the Mannargudi block of Tiruvarur district will prove...

-Outlook "It is a sorry state of affairs," the Supreme Court remarked today over failure of the project to clean Yamuna despite over Rs.12,000 crore being spent on it and suggested that the routing drainages of NCR region to a place outside Delhi be explored to stop release of waste in the river. Observing that Yamuna in Delhi carries not water but drains, a bench of justices Swatanter Kumar and Madan B...

-The Hindu IIT experts to suggest clean-up measures Expressing “anguish” that Yamuna water in Delhi has become filthy despite thousands of crores being spent on improving its quality, the Supreme Court on Tuesday appointed a committee of technical experts. It was perhaps time to involve experts from the Indian Institutes of Technology to suggest clean-up measures, said a Bench of Justices Swatanter Kumar and Madan B. Lokur, hearing a petition. It asked the...

-First Post Predictably, the recommendation by an experts’ panel appointed by the Supreme Court  - that trials of genetically modified (GM) crops should be halted for 10 years – has stirred a hornet’s nest. Such a moratorium would include ongoing trials and the court rejected it. This follows on the heels of the Parliamentary Standing Committee on Agriculture’s 492-page report published in August which asked for the banning of GM food crops...