-PTI PANAJI: The Union ministry of environment and forest (MoEF) on Wednesday suspended the environment clearances (EC) of all the 93 mining leases in Goa asking the mine owners to submit the relevant documents. The mine owners will have to submit their documents which are required for getting the environment clearances, minister of environment and forest Jayanti Natarajan told reporters in Panaji on Wednesday. Justice MB Shah commission, in its report on Goa's...

-IANS Asking civil servants to take bold decisions, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh on Saturday said the government would not indulge in "Witch Hunting" against them in the name of fighting corruption.  " ... it should be our endeavour that there is no Witch Hunting in the name of fighting corruption," the prime minister said while inaugurating the 7th Civil Services Day event here.  "It is our government's commitment to put in place a...

-The Telegraph Assam has witnessed one abduction almost every two days this year. Despite militancy being on the decline, there has been no let-up in abductions in the state. Assam forest minister Rakibul Hussain today told the Assembly that 56 abduction cases have been registered in the state since January, which works out to 86 days till today. Replying on behalf of chief minister Tarun Gogoi, who holds the home portfolio, Hussain said between...

-DD News   In a damning action, government has barred former ISRO chief G Madhavan Nair and three eminent space scientists from any re-employment for their alleged role in the controversial allocation of scarce S-band space segment to private firm Devas. The action, probably the first of its kind against a former Secretary-level technocrat and other retired officials, follows a high-level inquiry into the controversial deal under which Antrix was to lease out...

Important draft legislation was recently unveiled in Rajasthan that would impose serious punishment for ‘witch-hunting’. Getting legislators to sign off on the bill, however, will prove difficult. Over the years, the women’s movement in Rajasthan has had some success in making violence against women into an important political issue. Activists have forced political parties and governments to demonstrate that they are addressing this constituency, which the media has dubbed ‘Mahila Sangathan’....