-The Hindu ‘Will work on full-time basis to evolve more objective standards of scrutiny' Amid criticism that industrialisation and economic growth were getting blocked due to delay in granting “Environmental Clearances” to industries, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh on Sunday announced the government's plans to set up an independent regulator for giving Environmental Clearances. “We also hope to establish an independent regulator — the National Environment Appraisal and Monitoring Authority — soon. This...
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Ramesh seals Vedanta fate, now courts to decide by Nitin Sethi
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...
More »SC boost for Ramesh's bid to set up autonomous green clearance body
-The Times of India The Supreme Court may have cleared the Lafarge mining case, but it has also ordered the setting up of an independent clearance authority. The move is a boost to Union minister Jairam Ramesh's plans to legislate an autonomous National Environment Appraisal and Monitoring Authority. Taking the cue from the suggestions made by the environment ministry to strengthen the clearance process, the apex court backed the creation of...
More »Supreme Court allows mining by Lafarge by J Venkatesan
Forest Bench issues guidelines for future clearances The Supreme Court on Wednesday allowed the French cement company Lafarge to mine limestone in the forests of the East Khasi hills in Meghalaya. The Forest Bench, comprising Chief Justice S.H. Kapadia and Justices Aftab Alam and K.S. Radhakrishnan, accepted the contentions of the Lafarge to mine in the forests of Meghalaya and that it had obtained necessary clearances. Writing the judgment, the CJI said: “In...
More »POSCO: take land but give life by Sunita Narain
The sight on television was heartbreaking: children lying in rows in the searing sun to be human shields against the takeover of their land for Korean giant POSCO’s mega bucks project. Facing them were armed police sent by the state government to assist in the operation. The steel plant and port project, located in a coastal district of Odisha, has been in a six-year-long eyeball-to-eyeball battle with people whose land will...
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