To its credit, the ministry under Jairam Ramesh is no longer the money-making racket it once was. But its activism often resembles regulatory overreach The decision by the Union ministry of environment and forests (MoEF) to give a conditional green signal to the $12 billion Posco steel project in Orissa is exquisitely timed. It will hopefully send out a strong signal that India continues to be open for business and environmental...

Query on SC, ST status included; caste-based enumeration from June to September 2011 Census 2011, billed as the largest peacetime mobilisation in the world, will see the massive exercise of population enumeration across the country simultaneously, between February 9 and 28. Registrar-General and Census Commissioner C. Chandramouli said on Wednesday that the biggest-ever census attempted in the history of mankind to enumerate the country's 1.2-billion population would be conducted across 35...

Fish consumption has reached an all-time high and more people than ever are employed in or depend on the fisheries sector, according to a new United Nations report, which also warns that global fish stocks have not improved. “That there has been no improvement in the status of stocks is a matter of great concern,” said Richard Grainger, senior fisheries expert at the UN Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) and one...

Enthused by the Centre's nod to Korean steel giant Posco's mega-steel plant, the Orissa government on Monday said it would soon resume land acquisition at the project site. At the same time, given its past experience with a reluctant environment ministry, the government said it will adopt a wait-and-watch approach on issues like mining and renewal of memorandum of understanding. ''We welcome the decision and thank the Union government and...

Senior United Nations officials today called for urgent steps to rein in the rising prices for basic farm produce, petroleum and raw industrial materials whose volatility hits the world’s poorest people the hardest.     “Such volatility has huge negative impacts on vulnerable groups, such as low-income households in developing countries, for whom food expenditure can account for up to 80 per cent of household budgets,” UN Conference on Trade and Development...