-The Times of India LUCKNOW: Illegal mining in Uttar Pradesh between 2005-11 caused a loss of Rs 1,400 crore to the exchequer, says a draft report of the comptroller & auditor general. The report, prepared on the activities of state geology and mining directorate, belies state government's claims on checking illegal mining and indicates that illegal mining is widespread. It reveals several procedural gaps in legal quarrying as well. The auditors, who...
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Government pulled two thorns out of sand mafia's side in a week -Vandana Keelor
-The Times of India NOIDA: On July 25, three days before IAS officer Durga Shakti Nagpal was suspended, the mining officer assisting her in the drive against sand mafia was shunted out. The officer, Ashish Kumar, was transferred to Bulandshahr. While the Noida city magistrate has been handed over Nagpal's duties, the Gautam Budh Nagar district, much to the delight of the sand mafia, currently has no mining officer. According to sources,...
More »Slain Naxalites had dropped guns, wanted to surrender -Soumittra S Bose
-The Times of India MENDHARI (GADCHIROLI): The picturesque little hamlet of Mendhari, around 90-km from Gadchiroli town, was considered by the Naxalites as a safe haven. The tranquillity here had remained undisputed until Sunday when, for the first time, the villagers witnessed a lopsided bloodbath in which six women rebels were killed in police firing. The villagers, who claimed to have been thrashed by the C-60 commandos too, told TOI that four...
More »Death in parched farm field reveals growing India water tragedy -Rakteem Katakey, Rajesh Kumar Singh and Archana Chaudhary
-Live Mint/ Bloomberg Conflicts between industry and farmers getting worse as water becomes more and more scarce Sachin Ingale slipped out of his family's two-room, white-painted mud hut about 4pm and walked into their farm field where the 22-year-old took a deep swig of pesticide from a plastic bottle. He died later that evening. Four months later, the mercury is pushing 50 degrees Celsius (122 degrees Fahrenheit) in his village in...
More »In South Bastar, grim battles on to retake Maoist bases-Suvojit Bagchi
-The Hindu JAGDALPUR: With semi-automatic weapons slung over their shoulders, these soldiers are more than just patrolling arterial village roads. They are in the midst of full-scale battles in which several people, mostly non-combatants, are getting killed. Forces have been mobilised in their thousands; dehydrated soldiers are getting evacuated by the Indian Air Force; corpses are removed in huge Tractors meant for transporting farm produce; and Maoists are intensifying coordination at...
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