-The Hindu Saurastra: Half a dozen villages along the coastal area of Saurashtra’s Bhavnagar district are up in arms against an environmental public hearing on March 5 for a proposed 6,000-MW nuclear power plant . The plant is expected to come up in Mithi Virdi village and has been tentatively named after it. If it comes up, it would be the second nuclear power plant in Gujarat after the one at Kakrapar...

-The Economic Times The Supreme Court has sought the Centre's view on inclusion of tribal people in the mainstream, saying they should be allowed to choose facilities such as roads, schools, hospitals and electricity in the wider debate over preservation of their habitat. The remarks were made by a three-judge bench on Wednesday in response to Solicitor General Mohan Parasaran's opposition to the Odisha government's plan to mine the Niyamgiri hills...

-The Hindu Hearing of proposed 100-MW thermal power plant of KPR Industries postponed after stones thrown at dais Balabhadrapuram (East Godavari): The public hearing on the proposed 100 MW thermal power plant of KPR Industries (India) Limited on Wednesday between Dontamuru of Rangampeta mandal and Balabhadrapuram of Bikkavolu mandal in East Godavari district was disrupted by villagers and some ‘outsiders’. A total of 40 persons, including four policemen, were injured in lathi-charge and...

The Ministry of Environment and Forests (MOEF) has been the target of criticism from industry groups to the Prime Minister for allegedly holding up infrastructure and industrial development through its system of green clearances. But a recent analysis of 5 years of decision-making put out by an environmental group suggests why these attacks might be misplaced, given the ease with which every single of 262 proposed hydropower and irrigation projects...

-South Asia Network on Dams, Rivers & People   The Expert Approval Committee has zero rejection in six years The Union Ministry of Environment and Forests’ (MoEF) Expert Appraisal Committee (EAC) on River Valley and Hydroelectric Projects (RVP) has considered a total of 262 hydropower and irrigation projects in close to six years since April 2007 when the new committee was set up to its latest, 63rd meeting in December 2012. An...