-The Indian Express Noida (Uttar Pradesh): The Uttar Pradesh government on Sunday suspended an IAS officer who had taken on the sand mafia by clamping down on illegal mining in the Yamuna and Hindon riverbeds over the last few months. Durga Shakti Nagpal, a 2009-batch IAS officer posted as Sub Divisional Magistrate (Sadar) in Gautam Buddh Nagar, had impounded several trucks engaged in illegal quarrying and registered over 20 FIRs. The reason cited...

U.P.'s GDP grew at 7.28 per cent in the past five years, but the State ranks low in virtually every area of socio-economic development. IF statistics on gross domestic product (GDP) are the only criteria to evaluate the performance of a government, the Mayawati-led Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) government in Uttar Pradesh will have to be rated as one with highly impressive credentials. For, India's most populous State has recorded a...

Bellary is only the tip of the rotting earthmound. Can a new proposed legislation clear the air? Two years ago, when the ministry of mines decided to use satellite imaging to survey projects, it unearthed several “unusual activities” across the country. “The amount of mining done and material being exported didn’t match in areas where certain companies had been given licences,” recounts a former senior bureaucrat with the mines ministry....