Ministry says there will be no out-of-court settlement Lavasa Corporation has asked for time to consider a solution Final order has been issued for furnishing information The court on Thursday granted six weeks to the Lavasa Corporation Limited (LCL) to submit documents demanded by the Ministry of Environment and Forests (MoEF) in its final order passed on January 17. The Ministry has clarified there will be no out-of-court settlement. The Lavasa Corporation issued a...

A leading Indian biochemist has urged the environment and Forests ministry to lift the moratorium on Bt brinjal, the country's first genetically modified (GM) food crop developed using a technology supplied by the US multinational seed giant Monsanto. 'The moratorium is not affecting the multinational companies but India's own scientists who are ready with more than a dozen GM crops, including (Vitamin-A rich) golden rice,' said Govindarajan Padmanabhan at the Indian...

The United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) is calling on countries to carefully examine the implications of high food prices and not to take any policy actions that might appear useful in the short term but could have harmful, longer-term effects or even aggravate the situation. The call comes with the agency’s publication today of an updated guide for policy-makers in developing countries, aimed at helping them address the negative...

Coastal Zone Management Authorities alerted National authority to review the actions taken The Coastal Regulation Zone (CRZ) violations in all States and Union Territories should be identified by June, according to the Union Ministry of Environment and Forest. The Ministry alerted all the State governments and the State Coastal Zone Management Authorities regarding the decision on Thursday. Incidentally, the draft CRZ notification issued by the Ministry on September 15 last year had included the...

The National Advisory Council (NAC) had been widely credited with framing three pro-people legislations — the National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme (NREGS), the Right to Information (RTI) and the Forest Rights Act — under the UPA 1 government. So when NAC 2 began discussions on the Food Security Act in mid-2010, expectations were high. The initial vision of an act with a universal public distribution system (PDS), extensive children's entitlements...