The 10,000 MW nuclear power plant that the NPCIL proposes to set up at Jaitapur, Maharashtra, with reactors from French company Areva, was on the agenda of the Union Environment Ministry's Expert Appraisal Committee meeting on Monday. According to some members, the committee plans to recommend a conditional environmental clearance for the plant. However, it is not clear what the final decision of the committee will be. It is then up...

As millions of children around the world start school this month, many are discovering something critical is missing. It's not teachers or textbooks - it's toilets. Poor sanitation doesn't just cause high rates of illness and absenteeism, but it also affects a child's intelligence, aid agencies say, with research showing that diarrhoea and worm infestations can lower IQ. Sanitation is one of the most wildly off-track targets under the United Nations' anti-poverty...

KEY TRENDS   • Section 105 of the Right to Fair Compensation and Transparency in the Land Acquisition, Rehabilitation and Resettlement Act, 2013, which provides for excluding 13 Central legislation, including Land Acquisition (Mines) Act 1885, Atomic Energy Act, 1962, Railway Act 1989, National Highways Act 1956 and Metro Railways (Construction of Works) Act, 1978, from its purview, has been amended for payment of compensation with rigours $ • The amendments have now...

For proper handling of radioactive, and other hazardous materials VCs must send duly signed reports Cobalt-60 isotope mishandled by Delhi University With a view to ensuring that the guidelines of the Atomic Energy Regulatory Board (AERB) and the Hazardous Wastes (Management and Handling) Rules are strictly implemented, a UGC expert committee has suggested the setting up of university committees to review safety in handling radioactive and other hazardous materials used by the institutions. The...

The Konkan Bachao Samiti (KBS), which is opposing the proposed Jaitapur nuclear power plant (JNPP) in Ratnagiri, has said that several questions on the project remain unanswered. At a recent press conference, Vivek Monteiro and Adwait Pednekar of the KBS said several issues were raised at meetings held among the KBS, Janhit Seva Samiti (JSS) and officials of the Nuclear Power Corporation of India Limited (NPCIL) and the National Environmental Engineering...