ENVIRONMENT MINISTER DISREGARDS FINDINGS OF HIS OWN REVIEW AND STATUTORY CLEARANCES COMMITTEES The following is the statement issued to the press by Abhay Sahoo, President of the POSCO Pratirodh Sangram Samiti (PPSS), and Prashant Paikeay, the PPSS spokesperson, on January 31, 2010. The decision of Environment Minister Jairam Ramesh to give a comprehensive okay to the POSCO India Steel Power Production-Captive Port project, based on some additional conditions, is nothing short of...

Tribal communities are vulnerable not only because they are poor, assetless and illiterate compared to the general population, their distinct vulnerability arises from their inability to negotiate and cope with the consequences of their forced integration with the mainstream economy, society, and cultural and political system. The repercussions for the already fragile socio-economic livelihood base of the tribals have been devastating—ranging from loss of livelihoods, land alienation on a vast...

Some members of the National Advisory Council , or NAC, are of the view that a small group in the council is driving its agenda to an extreme, making its recommendations vulnerable to government's rejection on the grounds of fiscal prudence. This not only ends wasting everyone's time, but also does a disservice to the poor and disadvantaged the council seeks to help, by indefinitely delaying progressive legislation, goes the...

The government refused to budge on the controversial RTI amendments in a meeting with the National Advisory Council on Tuesday. In fact, the wedge between the Sonia Gandhi-led council and the government got deeper with yet another ministry — this time the Union ministry of personnel — defying the thinktank and not entertaining the group's foray into its turf. Earlier the PMO, with the Planning Commission and the food ministry...

THE Union government is reviewing its landmark initiative, the Forest Rights Act, four years after enacting it. The aim is to find how to strengthen the law which was legislated to ensure the traditional rights of 100 million forest dwelling people in the country. Two high-level groups submitted their assessment in the first week of January. But it seems the Union ministry of environment and forests has made up its mind...