India has asked the US to return shrimp exporters’ money locked up in Customs bonds. The US had imposed anti-Dumping duty of 10.17% on Indian shrimps in 2005 and also asked local importers to provide enhanced Customs bonds worth the duty for past 12-month imports. When the US shrimp importers refused to furnish these bonds, India’s exporters had to shoulder the cost to keep shipments going. Following a successful complaint by...

Corruption, No. 1 national security threat, is eating into the vitals of the state, enfeebling internal security and crimping foreign policy.  India confronts several pressing national security threats. But only one of them — political corruption — poses an existential threat to the state, which in reality has degenerated into a republic of mega-scandals. The pervasive misuse of public office for private gain is an evil, eating into the vitals...

Rules restrict construction, Dumping of untreated waste, industrialisation Harvesting, dredging can be carried out in wetlands with permission from authorities The Union government on Thursday notified rules for conservation and management of wetlands that restrict harmful activities such as construction, Dumping of untreated waste, and industrialisation, to prevent damage to these sensitive ecosystems with high biodiversity values. The Wetlands (Conservation and Management) Rules, 2010, are aimed at ensuring better conservation and preventing degradation...

The CAG indicts Uttarakhand for pursuing hydel power projects indiscriminately without concern for the environment. IN a severe indictment of the Uttarakhand government, the Comptroller and Auditor General (CAG) of India said it was pushing the State towards a major environmental catastrophe by following a highly ambitious hydropower policy. In a report titled “Performance Audit of Hydropower Development Through Private Sector Participation”, which was released recently, the CAG substantiates the allegations...

Himachal Pradesh has expressed reservation over the provision of ‘minimum five hectares of land for granting mining lease’ under the proposed Mines and Minerals (Development and Regulation) Bill that has already got the nod of Group of Ministers. The existing Act, which will be replaced, did not have any such regulation. The government has already represented to the Centre that such large tracts of land for mining activities in Himachal, where...