Has Environment Minister Jairam Ramesh, who till recently was known for his green ‘overdrive’, toned down? Conditional clearance to several high-profile projects, including Posco and SAIL, is a pointer to how his ministry has softened its stand. Ahead of a meeting of the group of ministers (GoM) tomorrow, on the ‘no-go’ issue related to coal projects, 16 coal projects, that have been stuck for a year now, are set to get...

The Orissa government will submit its report to the Union ministry of environment and forests (MoEF) on the issue of compliance with Forest Rights Act at the Posco site before the end of this month. “We will definitely submit the report to the MoEF before the end of this month. The SC & ST department has already reviewed the report which is currently under the scrutiny of the state forest &...

After giving clearance to Chiria mines and Korean giant POSCO’s steel plant s on “developmental” grounds, the environment ministry under Jairam Ramesh has once again been pushed to the backfoot — this time by Congress Member of Parliament Naveen Jindal’s Jindal Steel & Power. The ministry on Monday announced it was withdrawing its earlier threat to withdraw environmental clearance to Jindal’s Rs25,000 crore steel and power plant in Angul, Orissa. The ministry...

India’s rulers have found a new vocation – maligning environmentalists and questioning the very idea of regulating industry for pollution. Thus, faced with criticism of Lavasa, an artificial gated city of the super-rich near Pune, in which his family has invested crores, Agriculture Minister, Sharad Pawar, lashed out at well-known activist Medha Patkar and other “vested interests” for obstructing this “pioneering” project. Lavasa’s promoters built the project without seeking environmental clearance...

The Environment Ministry's clearance of projects such as Posco, Jaitapur and Lavasa will cause havoc in our gravely endangered environment. EVEN the worst pessimist could not have imagined that the January 31 order of the Ministry of Environment and Forests (MoEF) approving the South Korean-origin company Posco's steel project in Orissa would be as bad as it actually is. Construction of the Rs.54,000-crore steel plant, its captive power unit and private...