-Business Standard The Supreme Court asked the Union environment ministry to review six specific hydroelectric projects on the upper Ganga basin in Uttarakhand. On Wednesday, the ministry informed the apex court that its expert committee had checked and found the six had almost all the requisite and legitimate clearances. But, the ministry did not tell the court the experts, in the report to the ministry, had also warned these dams could...

-The Hindu The proposal, mooted at a review meeting on Namami Ganga, will take six States on board before installation. The Centre has proposed the setting up and maintenance of Sewage Treatment Plants (STPs) in all the 118 cities and towns located along the Ganga in a time-bound manner to check pollution of the river. To be built and maintained through a special purpose vehicle, these STPs will be paid for by the...

-The Times of India NEW DELHI: In a move to involve private players more to clean Ganga, the govt is keen to allow corporates to spend their CSR fund without any interference of municipal bodies in 118 cities and towns along the river. Corporates would be allowed to undertake projects that contribute to this mission after getting easy approval from the municipal bodies. "The issue was discussed at a meeting chaired...

-The Hindustan Times For the second time in five months, the Supreme Court has pulled up the NDA government for the delay in cleaning up of the Ganga, a pet project of Prime Minister Narendra Modi. The Centre has now told the court it will finish the mega project to clean up the 2,525km-long river by 2018. Bringing up the slow progress on the three-decade-old Ganga Action Plan, the SC Wednesday wondered...

-The Indian Express The first nine months of the new BJP government has only underscored its anti-poor, anti-rural image. The substantive and substantial changes in rural development have been restrictive in nature. The new government has worked to undermine the legal and financial framework of MGNREGA, substantially weakened the provisions of the land acquisition act through an ordinance and, through year-end budget cuts, they have undermined almost every social sector programme, reportedly...