Criticising the government’s Mining Bill, FICCI has said that the proposed legislation would adversely impact investments in the sector. It also termed the government’s scheme to provide shareholdings to tribals in mining projects as flawed. In a recent letter to Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee, FICCI Secretary General Amit Mitra said that the proposed act will “adversely affect the industry”. “...the latest draft of the Mines and Minerals Development and Regulation Act 2010 proposes...

The views of the Union Ministry of Environment and Forest (MoEF) panel on violation of Forest Right Act in the Posco project site area is likely to further delay the land acquisition process and precipitate the problems for the South Korean steel major which has been facing uphill task in acquiring land for the project due to local protests. The MoEF panel visited the Posco project site villages yesterday and interacted...

The three members central team, constituted by ministry of forest and environment and ministry of Tribal affairs visited proposed POSCO site villages and held public consultation to enquire about the implementation of ‘ The Scheduled Tribes and other Traditional Forest Dwellers and Forest Rights Act-2006 and Rules 2007’ The central team led by Ashish Kothari, a member of a Pune based NGO Kalparvriksh, Dr Ravi Chellam from wild life conservation society...

A committee of the Ministry of Environment and Forests (MOEF) on Saturday found that the green signal for land acquisition for the proposed Posco-India steel plant project in Orissa's Jagatsinghpur district was given, ignoring implementation of the Forest Rights Act, 2006. The three-member committee that visited villages facing displacement observed that forest land could not be diverted for other purposes without settlement of rights under the FRA. It asked villagers to...

The four-member panel, which holds the fate of Vedanta's bauxite mining project in the Niyamgiri Hills of Orissa, has been given an expanded mandate. The committee has now been given the job of investigating the “likely physical and economic displacement due to the project, including the resource displacement of forest users and the rehabilitation plan.” Open-ended course It has also been given an open-ended mandate, with permission to “inquire into or investigate any...