Such projects in upper reaches of Arunachal rivers may hit areas downstream in Assam The Assam Assembly's House Committee, which studied the impact of the construction of big hydro-electric dams in the upper reaches of the Brahmaputra in Arunachal Pradesh on the areas downstream in Assam, has recommended that no dam be allowed in that State without a proper comprehensive and scientific assessment. In its final report tabled on the floor of...

Social activist and Narmada Bachao Andolan (NBA) leader Medha Patkar on Wednesday led thousands of protesters in laying a siege to Deputy Commissioner (DC) Pratik Hazela's office here and blocking the busy Mahatma Gandhi Road for nearly two-and-half hours. They were demanding an immediate halt to mega river-dam projects in Arunachal Pradesh and other north-eastern States. The protesters, most of them NGO, Krishak Mukti Sangram Samiti (KMSS) activists, marched to the...

The Orissa government on Monday unveiled an ambitious plan to provide agricultural credit of Rs 9165 crore in this fiscal compared to Rs 5300 crore in 2009-10. In a conscious move to avoid the embarrassment of having the tag of anti-farmers, the government has also decided to continue with 2% interest subvention on the farm credit, according to minister for agriculture and cooperation, Damodar Rout. In another significant development, the...

The Supreme Court on May 7 ruled that natural resources were national assets that belonged to the people and were ideally exploited by public sector undertakings. This obviously implies that local communities, including tribals, living on mineralised land, enjoy entitlements but not prescriptive ownership rights to such national assets. This is an important reiterative clarification defining mineral rights in Fifth Schedule areas that are currently in contention. Whether PSUs should...

Why is Madhya Pradesh ranked so low in the Millennium Development Goals like child and maternal mortality, extreme poverty, hunger and safe drinking water? Social sector allocation has increased only during the last few years. Before 2005, there wasn’t enough money allocated to it when compared to poverty alleviation schemes. Also, it takes time for the benefits of the allocations to reach people and for real change to manifest itself....