South Korean steel maker Posco may have to start its bid to enter India from scratch, letting six years of preparatory work go to waste. A top tribunal has cancelled environmental approvals given by the government last year for the company’s $12 billion (around Rs61,440 crore today) steel plant in Orissa and ordered that the environment ministry review the entire project afresh. The tribunal said environmental clearances have been accorded in...

-The Business Standard Cotton export ban was an example of poor policy The government’s sudden move to ban cotton exports – rolled back in less than a week following anger from cotton farmers and adverse political fallout — reflects very poorly on its policy management. The commerce ministry clamped down on exports without clear logic; prior consultations with other ministries concerned were also cursory or non-existent. Unsurprisingly, most players in the cotton...

-The Hindu Even as the Director-General of Foreign Trade issued a fresh notification lifting the ban on cotton exports, the government is set to launch a probe into the “self consignments,” mostly to China, and scrutinise the export receipt certificates (ERCs) to get to the root of the sudden spurt that caught it unawares. Though the government had registered 130 lakh bales for exports, it was only last week that the alarm...

Former environment minister Jairam Ramesh’s “go, no-go” policy to keep some areas out of bounds for mining is back — with a different name. The environment ministry under Jayanthi Natarajan plans to demarcate some “inviolate areas” which will not be considered for green clearances. The ministry had agreed to the recommendations of the B K Chaturvedi committee that all mining projects should be considered on merit. However, it has told a...

Notification today; GoM will work out riders   Allies of the ruling United Progressive Alliance have again forced the Manmohan Singh government to take a step back, this time over the ban on cotton exports. The government has now announced that a new notification revoking the ban imposed on March 5 will be issued on Monday, in what is considered a victory for Agriculture Minister Sharad Pawar, who stoutly opposed the decision, along...