-The Telegraph New Delhi: The Supreme Court today overruled the Centre and directed it to set up a national regulator to deal with the mandatory environmental impact assessment processes for forest-related projects that can range from mining to industrial ventures. The implications of such a watchdog for industry were not immediately clear in the absence of specific modalities but a clearance logjam blamed on the environment ministry was seen as one of...

-Survival International Anthropologist Dr. Felix Padel works with the tribes of Odisha in eastern India, including the Dongria Kondh, for whom Survival International has campaigned for 10 years. Felix is the great great grandson of Charles Darwin and lives in a remote village in Odisha. In this interview, he talks to Survival about the Dongria Kondh's relationship to their mountains, their heroic struggle against Vedanta, Darwin's evolution theory and the experience...

-The Hindu Gram sabha at Taraimarh adjourned due to lack of quorum as villagers stay away Taraimarh (Chhattisgarh): On a wet and windy Saturday evening nearly 350 km north of the State capital, Raipur, a non-descript village registered a historic victory against Bharat Alumunium Company Ltd (Balco), an affiliate of India focused global miner, Vedanta. While the Dongria Kondhs turned up in large numbers at the gram sabha to emphatically reject Vedanta's...

-The Telegraph Bhubaneswar: The state government will begin a search for more bauxite mines in the state from the first week of November. The move comes in the wake of the state's inability to provide bauxite from Niyamgiri hills to Vedanta's Lanjigarh alumina refinery in Kalahandi district. Director of the state geology department P.K. Ojha said: "There is a great demand for bauxite as Odisha is witnessing a rapid growth in industrialisation, particularly...

-The Times of India NEW DELHI: Concerns of industry took a backseat as political parties, spurred by the oncoming election season, joined hands in Lok Sabha on Thursday to pass the land acquisition bill that enshrines consent of landowners and steep hikes in compensation. As when the food security bill was passed earlier this week, competitive populism took centrestage with Congress toasting Rahul Gandhi as the inspiration behind the legislation and BJP...