-Down to Earth   Environment ministry has been delaying the process for past three years   The Supreme Court recently asked the Centre to set up by April 30 a national environmental regulator for undertaking independent, objective and transparent appraisal of projects for environmental clearances and monitoring of conditions as per the provisions of the EIA Notification of 2006.  The order came after the green bench headed by Justice A K Patnaik refused to...

-CivilSocietyOnline.com More than 50 people, including tribal groups, social activists, water experts, ecologists, wildlife experts and academics, came together for a brainstorming workshop on ‘Dams coming up for Mumbai Region.' The meeting was organised by the South Asia Network on Dams, Rivers and People, Shramik Mukti Sangathana, and Jalbiradari. About 12 dams are planned or are under construction to satisfy the increasing thirst of the Mumbai Metropolitan Region (MMR). All these dams...

-The Hindu On the day that Veerappa Moily took over reins, the Environment Ministry eased environmental clearance norms for select industries, including brick kiln owners and river sand miners. On December 24, the Ministry took a decision to exempt a slew of different types of industrial and mining projects from either providing environmental impact assessment reports or holding public hearings when they are approved by the state government. Categorising these set of...

-The Hindu     This was an eco-sensitive zone, involving massive infrastructure, they say Ahmedabad: Around 50 environmentalists from across the country have written to the Union Environment Ministry that Chief Minister Narendra Modi's pet project, Statue of Unity, envisaging a 182- metre statue of Sardar Patel inside Narmada river, 3.2 km downstream of Sardar Sarovar Dam and Shoolpaneshar Sanctuary, was working without environment approval. This was an eco-sensitive zone, involving massive infrastructure. Work had...

-The Times of India NEW DELHI: Western Ghats may be in danger again. This time from a "drinking water" supply project. Yettinahole diversion project located in the ecologically sensitive zone as per the Western Ghats Ecology Expert Panel involves 8 dams inside the forests, 250kms long canals, 80kms and 50kms long raising mains, a reservoir that will submerge 1200 hectares of land and 2 villages according to a recent assessment by...