-Press release by Mineral Inheritors Rights Association dated February 18, 2022 The Rajasthan government on 17th February, has taken a positive step in addressing illegal mining in the State. The Directorate of Mines and Geology, Government of Rajasthan has added an important clause to the Bid letter of the Tender document for auction of major mineral blocks. The clause-10 (e) requires the bidder to assert: “I/We have not been convicted of...

-IndiaToday.in Congress leader Charanjit Singh Channi courted controversy with remarks he made recently about "UP, Bihar de bhaiye" at a poll rally in Punjab. This week, Punjab Chief Minister Charanjit Singh Channi brought 'bhaiya' back into political business. Flanked by senior Congress party colleague Priyanka Gandhi Vadra, CM Channi told an election audience that he "will not let the 'Uttar Pradesh, Bihar, Delhi de bhaiye', who have come here to rule, enter"...

-The Hindu ‘It will damage Western Ghats’ Tamil Nadu has made clear to the Supreme Court that it does not want the Indian Neutrino Observatory (INO) to be set up in a sensitive ecological zone in the Western Ghats at great cost to wildlife, biodiversity, and by ignoring the local opposition and public agitations to the project. The State said the project would be a source of distress to the shy tigers and...

-The Telegraph The risks of mining in Goa far outweigh ‘developmental gains’ Over five years ago, Hartman de Souza, a Goan, wrote a very angry book, Eat Dust: Mining and Greed in Goa, about the political economy of mining, giving a harrowing account of the mining racket orchestrated by those with political power, money and influence during the Age of Greed (2008-2011). This year, four national political parties are fighting the Goa elections...

-The Telegraph For the better-off upper castes, it has acquired the context of the safety of their sisters and daughters Bareilly, Rampur: Sitting outside a small medicine-cum-stationery shop at Khirka village in Bareilly district, Rakesh Gangwar, Ramdas Kashyap and Puranlal Gangwar unhesitatingly declare their support for the “phool” (lotus). Each lists the reasons almost in the same order, as though they had prepared beforehand for the question.   The top reason for all three —...