-Live Mint Farmers resisting India's biggest FDI deal are paying a heavy price for their stand In June 2005, the Orissa government signed the country's biggest foreign direct investment deal yet with the South Korean steel manufacturer Posco for a $12 billion (around `65,856 crore) plant near Paradip in the mineral-rich state. Livelihoods in eight existing agricultural and fishing villages were to give way for the project that was intended to be...

-The Indian Express Chennai: The fate of Sterlite Industries, and that of thousands of people of coastal Tuticorin, now depends on the south bench of the National Green Tribunal, which is hearing the company's petition against its closure ordered by the Tamil Nadu Pollution Control Board (TNPCB). The biggest copper smelting unit in the country, part of the Vedanta Group, moved the tribunal after the TNPCB ordered closure of the plant following...

Groups from across India gathered in Delhi recently to assess the Forest Rights Act’s journey since 2006. The law is often dubbed as ‘landmark’ because it ended the age-old illegality surrounding communities living in forest areas by entitling them to individual and community land title. It also went beyond the colonial paradigms of the forest bureaucracy to recognise community efforts at protecting and preserving forests. Numerous groups and individuals working...

-The Hindu Sets up a three-member panel to monitor execution of the order Gurgaon: The National Green Tribunal has through a recent order banned construction of roads and cutting of trees in the Aravallis directing the parties concerned to restore the area to its original condition. The Tribunal also set up a three-member committee to monitor the execution of the order. The order came on Badshahpur resident Devendra Kumar’s plea on violation of...

-The Times of India The Chhattisgarh government fudged records, concealed facts, changed policy and altered decisions while the Union environment ministry overlooked all such illegalities to open up 1,899 hectares for mining in Hasdeo Arand, one of the best patches of forests in central India. Initially, the Centre had decided to protect Hasdeo Arand by making it a no-go zone for miners. The Chhattisgarh government too had moved to get the dense...