-PTI The Supreme Court on Monday paved the way for the Centre to enforce rules on advertisement of tobacco products at their sale outlets that prohibits display of ads larger than 60 cm x 45 cm at shops. The court also slammed the central government for "conniving" with the tobacco lobby when people are daily dying of cancer. A Bench headed by Justice G S Singhvi quashed the interim order of the Bombay...

-The Telegraph New Delhi: A scientific panel has identified flaws in India's existing regulatory system that governs genetically modified (GM) crops and called for an indefinite moratorium on trials of GM food crops until the regulatory system is fixed. The regulatory system, which the Indian government has used to process dossiers of several GM crops, has "major gaps" and will require "rethinking, investment, and relearning to fix," a technical expert committee (TEC)...

-The Times of India NEW DELHI: Finding tension still simmering in Haryana's Mirchpur village more than three years after dalit houses were torched resulting in a handicapped girl and her father getting burnt to death, the Supreme Court on Monday asked the state, "Who is dividing society on caste lines?" The Haryana government's counsel answered, "The powerful and those in power." The question from a bench of Justices G S Singhvi and V...

-The Economic Times NEW DELHI: A technical committee appointed by the Supreme Court (SC) has recommended an indefinite moratorium on open field trials of genetically-modified (GM) crops till the deficiencies in the regulatory and safety systems are effectively addressed. The recommendations, if accepted by the court, would have a serious impact on the commercialisation of GM crops. In its final report, which was submitted to the court last week, the six-member...

-The Hindu Boards are understaffed, have little time for meetings, inspection or regulation, says study Mumbai: Environmental protection seems to be in shaky hands with political appointees nominated to head state pollution control boards (SPCB) in some places. In one case, the educational qualification of the chairperson was tenth standard. In Karnataka, for instance, the chairperson of the SPCB is Vaman Acharya, a senior BJP leader. In Himachal Pradesh, it is Kuldip Singh...