-The Hindustan Times There is good news for the Himachal Pradesh Power Corporation Ltd (HPPCL), the executing agency of the Renuka dam project, with the National Green Tribunal giving a green signal to the acquisition of land for the project. Vacating an interim stay ordered by it on July 28 last year on the land acquisition for the Rs 3,600-crore Renuka dam project, the tribunal has allowed the HPPCL to consider...

-The Hindu State says Constitution does not allow government spending for religious bodies The Supreme Court has declined to stay, at this stage, the Gujarat High Court order directing the State government to pay compensation to more than 500 shrines damaged during the 2002 riots. Earlier, appearing for the Gujarat government before Justices K.S. Radhakrishnan and Dipak Misra, Additional Advocate-General Tushar Mehta and counsel Hemantika Wahi argued that under the Constitution, there could...

-PTI Amid differences among allies, the government on Thursday deferred a decision on the changes in the crucial Pension Fund Regulatory and Development Authority Bill, 2011. "It (the PFRDA Bill) was taken up and deferred", said a minister after the Cabinet meeting here. Among the UPA allies, Trinamool Congress has been quite vociferous in opposing the pension and insurance reforms. Railway minister Mukul Roy, who represents TMC in the UPA government, did not speak...

-PTI The National Green Tribunal has sought the reply of Union Ministry of Environment and Forests (MoEF) on a plea against grant of any clearance to any new project in ecologically sensitive Western Ghats. The Tribunal also issued notices to the state governments of Maharashtra, Karnataka, Goa, Kerala, Gujarat and Tamil Nadu seeking their replies on the plea for implementation of the report by Western Ghats Ecology Expert Panel (WGEEP) on the...

German drugmaker Bayer AG has demanded the withdrawal of the country's first compulsory licence given to Natco Pharma, arguing that a three-fourth reduction in the price of the anti-cancer drug by another Indian firm has made the permit redundant and its patent itself is vulnerable to being revoked. In March, India allowed Natco Pharma to legally make and sell a low-cost version of cancer drug Nexavar at 3% of the original...