Over a dozen students of the Tata Institute of Social Sciences today boycotted their annual convocation while others handed badges that read “No to Nuclear Energy” to chief guest Jairam Ramesh in protest against the Jaitapur power project. A group of 22 students, who had visited the seven villages in Maharashtra’s Ratnagiri district that will be affected by the 9,900MW nuclear plant, also presented the environment minister with a fact file...

-ToI   The government patched together an intricate—and flawed—fertiliser system over the last 40 years. It now wants to dismantle that monster. The challenge before it is to preserve its pro-agriculture and pro-poor objective, while correcting the flaws that crept in, reports M Rajshekhar If it all goes to plan, buying or selling fertiliser will never be the same for the 120-odd companies that make up this Rs 1,00,000 crore industry or...

Endosulfan, the pesticide which is widely believed to be responsible for thousands of deaths, diseases and devastation, was able to save its own life largely because of India’s questionable efforts at global forums. The controversial pesticide has been in news for a long time because of its harmful effects on humans, wild life and the environment. Obviously the $100 million industry is going out of the way to defend the...

The polluting cement plant will harm the ecosystem: expert body ‘It is considered a valuable common property resource by the locals' In a victory for the farmers of Gujarat's Bhavnagar district, the Environment Ministry has decided that the site of Nirma Industries' proposed cement plant there is a wetland and an environmentally sensitive area. The plant will have to be relocated, the Ministry told the Supreme Court on Tuesday. The Ministry accepted the...

Public sector Hindustan Insecticides charged with polluting environment Repeated demands to shift hazardous wastes to common treatment facility ignored Pesticide residues leaching into neighbourhood The Kerala State Pollution Control Board (PCB) on Tuesday ordered Hindustan Insecticides Limited, Kochi, manufacturing endosulfan, to close down its operations on charges of environmental pollution. The public sector company has been asked to close down “all operations and process in the industry with immediate effect.” However, it will...