Janardhana Reddy insists he is not a king. No, no, no, he protested, as a servant trotted across the courtyard to deliver a cup of cooled water. Men with machine guns stood outside. An architect waited to discuss the new mansion, while another man hovered nearby, sitting in the grass. “He’s the state minister of health,” Mr. Reddy said of the man in the grass, who stood up, made a little...

The ongoing probe into illegal mining in Karnataka have revealed some startling facts, including the fact that transportation of ore has gone up two fold after a ban was imposed. Karnataka Lokayukta Justice N Santosh Hegde is probing the issue of illegal mining, which rocked the Parliament a couple of days ago. Justice Hegde, who is expected to submit his report on illegal mining in another four months, told rediff.com that the...

With Europe and Gulf countries, putting in place stringent safety norms for ensuring that pesticide residue in agricultural crops remain below prescribed limits, basmati (aromatic rice) exporters from India have urged the Union agriculture ministry to ensure that farmers use less pesticide. Europe and Gulf nations are main export destinations for Indian basmati rice. In a letter to agriculture ministry, Vijay Setia, president, All India Rice Exporters’ Association has said that some...

Days after Union Steel Minister Virbhadra Singh lauded the Karnataka government for imposing a ban on iron ore export, Union Mines Minister B.K. Handique came down strongly on the State government for failing to get its act together on checking illegal mining. In a harshly worded letter to Karnataka Chief Minister B.S. Yeddyurappa, Mr. Handique stated that banning iron ore export was not the right approach. Rather, it was a “sad...

Approvals pertain to bauxite mining, alumina factory, wetlands allocation for three thermal projects Union Minister of State for Environment and Forests Jairam Ramesh has announced a probe into all kinds of permission given so far for bauxite mining, setting up of alumina factory and allocation of wetlands in Srikakulam for setting up three thermal power projects. He promised to withdraw all permissions if the report proved that they were given in contravention...