Human rights investigators in India have been harassed and intimidated by large gangs of men apparently paid to stop any outsiders reaching the site of a controversial proposed mine in India. The men, known locally as ‘goons’, have become increasingly active in villages around the Niyamgiri Hills, Orissa, site of a giant bauxite mine planned by the UK FTSE-100 company Vedanta Resources. The hills are the ancestral home of the Dongria...
More »SEARCH RESULT
Total Matching Records found : 2791
Wasted effort
The national biofuel policy announced by the government last week is well-intentioned but is not really practical. It aims for achieving a 20 per cent blending of biofuels with petrol as well as diesel by 2017. Given that even the 5 per cent ethanol doping target — raised to 10 per cent last October — is yet to be achieved makes the target quite unachievable. The sugar industry, which is...
More »Oilcos to cook up deadly mix of kerosene for poor by Durbar Ganguly
Toxin-mixed fuel may deter adulterators but will pose danger to users After indirectly helping adulterators for seven long months to make money by diverting the kerosene meant for BPL families for mixing it with diesel, oil marketing companies (OMCs) are now thinking of introducing chemical markers which are hazardous for health and environment. The OMCs argued that during the technical evaluation of the markers, the hazardous chemicals would be removed....
More »Jharkhand: Economic Growth for Whom? by Girish Mishra
As far as natural resources like minerals, land and water are concerned, Jharkhand is among the richest States of India. Yet, its people are among the poorest. Mind you, almost 30 per cent of them are tribal. Out of the total population of 288.46 lakhs, 223.1 lakhs live in rural areas and only 65.36 lakhs are urban dwellers. Even a cursory glance is sufficient to convince that most of the...
More »'Chidambaram must visit Naxal-hit Chhattisgarh'
Vanvasi Chetna Asram founder Himanshu Kumar while reacting to the letter dashed by Chhattisgarh Governor ESL Naramsimhan to Prime Minister Manmohan Singh on Wednesday asking Union Home Minister P Chidambaram not to visit Naxal-hit areas in Raipur and Dantewada on January7, told rediff.com, "It means that the state government has something to hide." "We have not yet got any intimation from the home ministry that the visit has been cancelled,"...
More »
