NEW DELHI: Sealing the fate of Vedanta's bauxite mining project in Niyamgiri hills of Orissa, Union environment minister Jairam Ramesh cancelled the environmental clearance as well on Monday. He had rejected the forest clearance in an order in August 2010. Ramesh's decision came after TOI had reported that his ministry's project review arm, the Environment Appraisal Committee, had again recommended the project despite the minister's order stating that the environmental clearance...

Then Clive Lloyd took over the West Indies cricket team, he knew he was no Garfield Sobers. Lloyd focused on infusing discipline and strategy sessions with the team. "Both exceptional leaders, Sobers led by example, while Lloyd built a team. I suspect Jairam Ramesh is more like Sobers," an environment analyst sums up his assessment of the minister. The Sobers analogy crops up, in explicit and implicit ways, in any...