-The Times of India Taking a cue from the RBI governor D Subbarao, market leader Indian Oil Corporation indulged in grand standing on Tuesday by saying state-run retailers would raise petrol price by almost Rs 10 per litre, if the government did not reduce excise duty or did not compensate their Rs 49-crore daily loss on the fuel. "We have been very patient, not raising prices since December despite our cost of...

Be prepared for power outages ahead as coal supplies to 30 out of India's 95 thermal power plants have reached alarming levels.  Out of these 30 power stations that produce 26,320 mega-watt (mw) of power, 25 plants are running on less than four days of coal stocks, according to data available with the power ministry's advisory wing, Central Electricity Authority (CEA). Of the 25, five are from National Thermal Power Corp...

Protests marked the 10th anniversary of the introduction of genetically modified (GM) Bt cotton in the country. Angry farmers urged parliamentarians to hold a special session to discuss the issue and ban the technology. Charging a few seed companies, particularly Monsanto, with monopolising the seed industry and setting the agenda for the government, social activists urged policy-makers and farmers to reject the hype around Bt cotton and demanded a comprehensive review....

Nature serves well even when rivers run dry. Students of Government Polytechnic-Nirsa who recently unearthed four artesian wells in a rocky stretch of Dhanbad, will surely vouch for the natural source of water that promises succour as another arid summer looms. The nine final-year civil engineering (diploma) students, under the guidance of senior lecturer of the institute Suresh Prasad Yadav, spotted the four wells in Baliapur block of the district — one...

A global scramble for land and mineral resources fuelled by billions of investment dollars is threatening the last remaining wilderness and critical ecosystems, destroying communities and contaminating huge volumes of fresh water, warned environmental groups in London Wednesday. No national park, delicate ecosystem or community is off limits in the voracious hunt for valuable metals, minerals and fossil fuels, said the Gaia Foundation’s report, "Opening Pandora's Box". The intensity of the...